''WorldView-2'' (WV 2) is a commercial

Earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

owned by

DigitalGlobe DigitalGlobe is an American commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content, and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange on 14 May 2009, selling 14.7 million shares at US ...

. ''WorldView-2'' provides commercially available panchromatic imagery of resolution, and eight-band multispectral imagery with resolution. It was launched 8 October 2009 to become DigitalGlobe's third satellite in orbit, joining ''

WorldView-1 ''WorldView-1'' (WV 1) is a commercial earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe. WorldView-1 was launched on 18 September 2007, followed later by the '' WorldView-2'' in 2009. First imagery from ''WorldView-1'' was available in October 2 ...

'' which was launched in 2007 and ''

QuickBird QuickBird was a high-resolution commercial Earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe, launched in 2001 and reentered after orbit decay in 2015. QuickBird used Ball Aerospace's Global Imaging System 2000 (BGIS 2000). The satellite colle ...

'' which was launched in 2001. It takes a new photograph of any place on Earth every 1.1 days.

Design

Ball Aerospace Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE: BAL ...

built the spacecraft, which includes an optical telescope that can image objects in diameter.

Launch

''WorldView-2'' was launched 8 October 2009 from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USS General Harry Taylor (AP-145), USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in K ...

on a

Delta II Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 ...

flying in the 7920 configuration. The launch vehicle was provided by the

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, ...

and launch services were administered by

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

History

On 19 July 2016, the

Joint Space Operations Center The Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) is a U.S.–led multinational space operations center that provides command and control of space forces for United States Space Command's Combined Force Space Component Command. The CSpOC is located at ...

reported a debris causing event of at least 9 observable pieces, after which DigitalGlobe demonstrated the satellite to still be functional by releasing an image of downtown

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

References

External links

''WorldView-2''
at Digitalglobe.com
''WorldView-2'' sensor information
at Satimagingcorp.com Commercial imaging satellites of the United States Spacecraft launched in 2009 Spacecraft launched by Delta II rockets {{US-spacecraft-stub

Design

Launch

History

See also

References

External links