A new eye in the sky will soon be peering at Earth from about 500 miles high, thanks to three Colorado companies.
The Worldview-2 satellite, scheduled for launch today from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California, is DigitalGlobe’s third in a series of Earth-imaging craft.
The Longmont-based company is using an imaging system made by ITT Corp.’s Space Systems Division of Rochester, N.Y., on board a spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder. Sending Worldview-2 aloft is a Delta II provided by United Launch Alliance of Centennial.
Jeff Dierks, Ball’s project manager on Worldview, said the satellite will provide the “highest- resolution satellite imagery of Earth” available commercially.
Only U.S. Department of Defense satellites can view the world in sharper detail.
About an hour after launch, the spacecraft will be put into an orbit where it will begin collecting high-resolution commercial images.
The information will be used in creating precise maps, in-depth image analysis, urban planning, environmental monitoring, disaster assessment and response, and oil-and-gas exploration.
Worldview-2 will offer “a truer view of the world,” said DigitalGlobe officials, since it will be the first commercial satellite to offer eight-band color capability.
Dierks said Ball has been asked to prepare proposals for Worldview-3 and -4, with launches anticipated in about four years.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
From 1 to 2, it’s quite a view
Worldview-1, launched in 2007, can see only in black and white.
Worldview-2 will snap images in eight color bands in 1.8-meter resolution.
Since Worldview-2 will be much higher than Worldview-1’s 300 miles, Worldview-2 will have a broader angle of view and will be able to cover more than 770,000 square miles a day.
