Hot on the heels of GeoEye 1 (see PSN Sept. & Oct 08) comes Worldview 2, promoted as the worlds technologically advanced, highest resolution space imaging satellite, capable of 8 band multispectral imaging. The satellite, which will become part of an existing constellation of 2 satellites will are already operated by Digital Globe Inc., a US imaging company based in Colorado.

The satellite will be capable of collecting 975,000 square kilometers of imagery each day, and by adopting a Sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 770 kilometers, will have an average re-visit time of one day. This capability will have great appeal to Customs and Border Security organizations.

The satellite carries an X band downlink at 800Mbps which can be received directly by the customer when in range.

The company’s first satellite, “QuickBird” was launched in 1981 and orbits the Earth at 450 kilometers providing sub meter resolution imagery whilst  offering large on board storage capability. The satellite maps over 75 million kilometers of the earth’s surface annually. The satellite was fuelled with sufficient propellant for 7 years.

The company’s second satellite, “Worldview 1” was launched in 2007. Operating at an altitude of 496 kilometers, WorldView-1 has an average revisit time of 1.7 days and is capable of collecting up to 750,000 square kilometers (290,000 square miles) per day of half-meter imagery. The satellite is capable of providing half meter resolution.

Worldview 2 was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and is based on their BCP

5000 spacecraft bus. The BCP 5000 features next generation optical and synthetic radar remote sensing payloads and is also equipped with a new instrument vibration isolation system to control jitter induced by the spacecraft.

Ball Aerospace also built QuickBird and Worldview 1 satellites for Digital Globe, and has worked with the company since the mid 1990’s.

The company built all the instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope, including the new instruments installed on Servicing Mission 4, recently completed by the Space Shuttle.

Worldview 2 is scheduled for launch from the Vandenberg Air Force base in California in September or October this year aboard a Delta 2 launcher.