Lockheed Martin-Built Spacecraft Will Capture Sharp Images From Nearly 400 Miles Above The Earth

The WorldView-4 commercial remote sensing spacecraft was launched Friday aboard an Atlas V 401 booster. The launch occurred at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time from Space Launch Complex 3 East from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The launch for DigitalGlobe marked the 137th consecutive successful Atlas launch to date.

The WorldView-4 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, is the latest in a series of imaging and data satellites for customers around the world. The satellite will capture images so clear that they can distinguish between a sedan, van, and truck from nearly 400 miles in space – the same technology employed on DigitalGlobe’s other WorldView satellites.

DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 satellite was also launched on an Atlas from this same location in 2014. The rocket, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401, was provided by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. For commercial missions, Lockheed Martin is responsible for contracts, licensing, marketing, sales and mission management of Atlas.

By leveraging DigitalGlobe’s advanced constellation scheduling system to operate in concert with WorldView-3, WorldView-4 will more than double DigitalGlobe’s coverage of the world’s highest-resolution 30 cm commercial satellite imagery and increase the rate at which it grows its 16-year library of time-lapse high-resolution imagery.

WorldView-4 will orbit Earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and capture images equivalent of the land area of Texas each day, according to the company.

(Image provided with Lockheed Martin news release)

FMI: www.lockheedmartin.com