QuickBird

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 and white) imagery at 60 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.

• Launch Date: October 18, 2001
• Launch Window: 1851-1906 GMT (1451-1506 EDT)
• Launch Vehicle: Delta II
• Launch Site: SLC-2W, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
• USAF Designation: Quickbird 2^[3]

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

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

• 60 cm (24 in) (1.37 μrad) panchromatic at nadir
• 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) (5.47 μrad) multispectral at nadir
  • 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: 18 km at nadir
• Accessible ground swath: 544 km centered on the satellite ground track (to 30° off nadir)
• Area of interest
  • Single area: 18 km by 18 km
  • Strip: 18 km by 360 km

Orbit

• Altitude: 482 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 94.2 minutes

Onboard storage

• 128 Gigabit capacity (approximately 57 single area images)

Spacecraft

• Fueled for 7 years
• 2100 lb (950 kg), 3.04 m (10 ft) in length

See also

References

External links

• DigitalGlobe - QuickBird specifications
• Ball Aerospace

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