Launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully lifted satellite imager DigitalGlobe’s [DGI] WorldView-3 spacecraft Wednesday from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
Liftoff took place at 2:29 p.m. EDT. Launch took place on one of ULA’s Atlas V rockets, which are powered by the Russian-developed RD-180 first stage booster. This was the first commercial Atlas V launch to take place at Vandenberg, according to an Air Force statement.
WorldView-3 is the first multi-payload super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite for earth observations and advanced geospatial solutions, according to ULA. WorldView-3 will provide 31 cm panchromatic resolution, 1.24 meter multispectral resolution and 3.7 meter short-wave infrared (IR) with an average revisit time of less than 24 hours, according to the Air Force. This high spatial resolution multispectral satellite imagery will be used for civil government mapping, land use planning, disaster relief, exploration, defense, intelligence, visualization and simulation environments.
DigitalGlobe announced in late July that it was renaming its GeoEye-2 satellite WorldView-4 and moving up the launch of the spacecraft to mid-2016 to “meet demand from DigitalGlobe’s Direct Access and other commercial customers.” The company said a significant catalyst for this decision was the Commerce Department’s recent decision to allow DigitalGlobe to sell imagery with resolution of up to 25 cm. DigitalGlobe said WorldView-4 will provide customers with access to 30 cm resolution imagery, the highest resolution currently available.
DigitalGlobe took possession of GeoEye-2 from GeoEye when it acquired the company in 2013. ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA]. The RD-180 is developed by NPO Energomash and is distributed in the United States by RD AMROSS, a joint venture of NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]