QuickBird
Encyclopedia
| Organization | DigitalGlobe DigitalGlobe DigitalGlobe, of Longmont, Colorado, USA, is a commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content, and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft... |
|---|---|
| Mission Type | Earth observation Earth observation satellite Earth observation satellites are satellites specifically designed to observe Earth from orbit, similar to reconnaissance satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc.... |
| Contractor | Ball Aerospace & Technologies |
| Satellite of | Earth Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... |
| Launch | October 18, 2001 on a Delta II Delta II Delta II was an American space launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II is part of the Delta rocket family and was in service from 1989 until November 1, 2011... |
| Launch site | Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command .... |
| Mission duration | 5 years |
| Mass Mass Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:... |
1018 kg (launch) |
| Webpage | http://www.digitalglobe.com/index.php/85/QuickBird |
| Orbital elements | |
| Semi-major axis Semi-major axis The major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter, a line that runs through the centre and both foci, its ends being at the widest points of the shape... |
6828 km |
| Inclination Inclination Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit... |
98 degrees |
| Orbital Period | 93.4 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| Visible cameras | 60 cm panchromatic Panchromatic Panchromatic film is a type of black-and-white photographic film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. A panchromatic film therefore produces a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye. Almost all modern photographic film is panchromatic, but some types are... 2.4 meter multispectral |
QuickBird is a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite
Earth observation satellite
Earth observation satellites are satellites specifically designed to observe Earth from orbit, similar to reconnaissance satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc....
, owned by DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe, of Longmont, Colorado, USA, is a commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content, and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft...
and launched in 2001 as the first satellite in a constellation of three scheduled to be in orbit by 2008. QuickBird uses Ball Aerospace's Global Imaging System 2000 (BGIS 2000) that collects the fourth highest resolution commercial imagery of Earth after WorldView-1
WorldView-1
WorldView-1 is a commercial earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe. It was launched September 18, 2007, and DigitalGlobe plans to launch another, similar satellite after its construction is finished in late 2008...
, WorldView-2
WorldView-2
WorldView-2 is a commercial Earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe. WorldView-2 provides commercially available panchromatic imagery of .5 m resolution, and eight-band multispectral imagery with resolution....
and GeoEye-1
GeoEye-1
GeoEye-1 is a high-resolution earth observation satellite owned by GeoEye, which was launched in September 2008.-History:On December 1, 2004, General Dynamics C4 Systems announced it had been awarded a contract worth approximately $209 million to build the OrbView-5 satellite...
and boasts the largest image size and the greatest on-board storage capacity of any satellite. The satellite collects panchromatic
Panchromatic
Panchromatic film is a type of black-and-white photographic film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. A panchromatic film therefore produces a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye. Almost all modern photographic film is panchromatic, but some types are...
(black & white) imagery at 60-70 centimeter resolution and multispectral
Multi-spectral image
A multispectral image is one that captures image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or by the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, including light from frequencies beyond the visible light range,...
imagery at 2.4- and 2.8-meter resolutions.
At this resolution, detail such as buildings and other infrastructure are easily visible. However, this resolution is insufficient for working with smaller objects such as a license plate on a car. The imagery can be imported into remote sensing
Remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...
image processing software, as well as into GIS
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
packages for analysis. The imagery can also be used as a backdrop for mapping applications, such as Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
and Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
.
- Launch Date: October 18, 2001
- Launch Window: 1851-1906 GMT (1451-1506 EDT)
- Launch Vehicle: Delta IIDelta IIDelta II was an American space launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II is part of the Delta rocket family and was in service from 1989 until November 1, 2011...
- Launch Site: SLC-2W, Vandenberg Air Force BaseVandenberg Air Force BaseVandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... - USAF Designation: Quickbird 2
Contractors include Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Kodak and Fokker Space.
QuickBird I
The first QuickBird was launched in November 2000, by EarthWatch from the Plesetsk CosmodromePlesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport, located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk.-Overview:...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. QB-1 failed to reach planned orbit and was declared a failure.
Specifications
Sensors (1.37 μrad) panchromaticPanchromatic
Panchromatic film is a type of black-and-white photographic film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. A panchromatic film therefore produces a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye. Almost all modern photographic film is panchromatic, but some types are...
at nadir
Nadir
The nadir is the direction pointing directly below a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface there. Since the concept of being below is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous...
(5.47 μrad) multispectral at nadir
Nadir
The nadir is the direction pointing directly below a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface there. Since the concept of being below is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous...
-
- MS Channels: blue (450-520 nm), green (520-600 nm), red (630-690 nm), near-IR (760-900 nm)
Swath width and area size
- Nominal swath width: 16.5 km at nadirNadirThe nadir is the direction pointing directly below a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface there. Since the concept of being below is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous...
- Accessible ground swath: 544 km centered on the satellite ground trackGround trackA ground track or ground trace is the path on the surface of the Earth directly below an aircraft or satellite. In the case of a satellite, it is the projection of the satellite's orbit onto the surface of the Earth .A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earth's surface...
(to 30° off nadir) - Area of interest
- Single area: 16.5 km by 16.5 km
- Strip: 16.5 km by 165 km
Orbit
- Altitude: 450 km – 98 degree sun synchronous inclination
- Revisit frequency: 1 to 3.5 days depending on latitude at 60 cm resolution
- Viewing angle: Agile spacecraft, in-track and cross-track pointing
- Period 93.4 minutes
Onboard storage
- 128 GigabitGigabitThe gigabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix giga is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 109 , and therefore...
capacity (approximately 57 single area images)
Spacecraft
- Fueled for 7 years
- 2100 lb (950 kg), 3.04 m (10 ft) in length
External links
- DigitalGlobe - QuickBird specifications
- Ball Aerospace