WorldView-1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

**WorldView-1**
Orbital elements
WorldView-1
Organization	DigitalGlobe
Mission Type	Earth observation
Contractor	Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Satellite of	Earth
Launch	September 18, 2007 on a Delta II
Launch site	Vandenberg Air Force Base
Mission duration	7.25 years
Mass	2500 kg (launch)
Webpage	http://www.digitalglobe.com/about/worldview1.html
Semimajor Axis	0000 km
Inclination	97.2 degrees
Orbital Period	94.6 minutes
Instruments
Visible camera	50 cm panchromatic

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.^[1] First imagery from WorldView-1 is expected to be available prior to October 18, the six-year anniversary of the launch of QuickBird, DigitalGlobe’s current satellite.^[2]

WorldView-1, was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Ball Aerospace built the spacecraft bus and the camera (instrument) using the unique off-axis camera design idenitcal to QuickBird with the instrument's focal plane being supplied by ITT Corporation. The camera is a panchromatic imaging system featuring half-meter resolution imagery. With an average revisit time of 1.7 days, WorldView-1 is capable of collecting up to 750,000 square kilometers (290,000 square miles) per day of half-meter imagery.^[2]

WorldView-1 was partially financed through an agreement with the National Geospatial-Intelligence 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 satellite to meet the growing commercial demand for multi-spectral geospatial imagery.^[2]