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[hide] |
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]
Sensors
Swath width and area size
Orbit
Onboard storage
Spacecraft
|
|