WorldView-1

WorldView-1
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	September 18, 2007 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	7.25 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:...	2,500 kg (launch)
Webpage	http://www.digitalglobe.com/index.php/86/WorldView-1
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...	0000 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...	97.2 degrees
Orbital Period	94.6 minutes
Instruments
Visible camera	50 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...

WorldView-1 is a 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...

. It was launched September 18, 2007, and DigitalGlobe plans to launch another, similar satellite after its construction is finished in late 2008. First imagery from WorldView-1 is expected to be available prior to October 18, the six-year anniversary of the launch of QuickBird

QuickBird

QuickBird is a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe and launched in 2001 as the first satellite in a constellation of three scheduled to be in orbit by 2008...

, DigitalGlobe’s current satellite.

WorldView-1, was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Ball Aerospace built the spacecraft bus and the camera (instrument) using the off-axis camera design identical to QuickBird with the instrument's focal plane being supplied by ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...

. The camera is a 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...

 imaging system featuring half-meter resolution imagery. With an average revisit time of 1.7 days, WorldView-1 is capable of collecting up to 750000 square kilometres (289,576.6 sq mi) per day of half-meter imagery.

WorldView-1 was partially financed through an agreement with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security. NGA was formerly known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency ...

 (NGA). Some of the imagery captured by WorldView-1 for the NGA will not be available to the general public. However, WorldView-1 will free capacity on DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird

QuickBird

QuickBird is a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe and launched in 2001 as the first satellite in a constellation of three scheduled to be in orbit by 2008...

 satellite to meet the growing commercial demand for multi-spectral geospatial

Geospatial

Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...

 imagery.

• Launch Date: September 18, 2007
• Launch Time: 1835 GMT (2:35 p.m. EDT)
• Launch Vehicle: 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 ....
  
  , California
  California
  California 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...