QuickBird

QuickBird
Organization DigitalGlobe
Mission Type Earth observation
Contractor Ball Aerospace & Technologies[1]
Satellite of Earth
Launch October 18, 2001 on a Delta II
Launch site Vandenberg Air Force Base
Mission duration 5 years
Mass 1018 kg (launch)
Webpage http://www.digitalglobe.com/index.php/85/QuickBird
Orbital elements
Semi-major axis 6828 km
Inclination 98 degrees
Orbital Period 93.4 minutes
Instruments
Visible cameras 60 cm panchromatic

2.4 meter multispectral

QuickBird is a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe and launched in 2001[2] 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)[1] that collects the fourth highest resolution commercial imagery of Earth after WorldView-1, WorldView-2 and GeoEye-1 and boasts the largest image size and the greatest on-board storage capacity of any satellite. The satellite collects panchromatic (black & white) imagery at 60-70 centimeter resolution and multispectral 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 image processing software, as well as into GIS packages for analysis. The imagery can also be used as a backdrop for mapping applications, such as Google Earth and Google Maps.

Contractors include Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Kodak and Fokker Space.

Contents

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QuickBird I

The first QuickBird was launched in November 2000, by EarthWatch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. QB-1 failed to reach planned orbit and was declared a failure.[4]

Specifications

Sensors

Swath width and area size

Orbit

Onboard storage

Spacecraft

See also

References

External links