MAXAR’s WorldView-2 satellite sensor, launched October 8, 2009, provides 0.46m panchromatic (B&W) mono and stereo satellite image data. Watch video of WorldView-2 satellite launch.
The WorldView-2 sensor provides a high-resolution panchromatic band and eight (8) multispectral bands; four (4) standard colors (red, green, blue, and near-infrared 1) and four (4) new bands (coastal, yellow, red edge, and near-infrared 2), full-color images for enhanced spectral analysis, mineral mapping, wildlife monitoring, land-use planning, disaster relief, defense, and climate change.
With its improved agility, WorldView-2 can act like a paintbrush, sweeping back and forth to collect very large areas of multispectral imagery in a single pass. WorldView-2 alone can collect nearly 1 million km2 every day, doubling the collection capacity of our constellation to nearly 2 million km2 per day. The combination of WorldView-2’s increased agility and high altitude enables it to typically revisit any place on earth in 1.1 days, revisit time drops below one day and never exceeds two days, providing the most same-day passes of any commercial high resolution satellite.
The WorldView-2 imaging payload is the second such system engineered and manufactured by ITT Space Systems Division for MAXAR. WorldView-2 operates at an altitude of 770 kilometers, and the advanced on-board imaging system can capture pan-sharpened, multispectral images (with better than 0.46-meter resolution) from almost 500 miles above the earth. These images supply unprecedented detail and geospatial accuracy, further expanding the applications for satellite imagery in both commercial and government markets. Added spectral diversity provides the ability to perform precise change detection and mapping.
In addition to numerous other technical improvements, WorldView-2 can accommodate direct tasking, which will allow select customers around the world to load imaging profiles directly up to the spacecraft and execute delivery of the data directly down to their ground stations.
| Launch Date | October 8, 2009 |
| Launch Vehicle | Delta 7920 (9 strap-ons) |
| Launch Site | Vandenberg Air Force Base |
| Orbit Altitude | 770 kilometers |
| Orbit Type | Sun synchronous, 10:30 am (LT) descending Node |
| Orbit Period | 100 minutes; 7.25 year mission life, including all consumables and degradables (e.g., propellant) |
| Spacecraft Size, Mass, & Power | 4.3 meters (14 feet) tall x 2.5 meters (8 feet) across, 7.1 meters (23 feet) across the deployed solar arrays; 2800 kilograms (6200 pounds); 3.2 kW solar array, 100 Ahr battery |
| Sensor Bands | Panchromatic 8 Multispectral: (4 standard colors: red, blue, green, near-IR), 4 new colors: red edge, coastal, yellow, near-IR2 |
| Sensor Resolution GSD | Ground Sample Distance Panchromatic: 0.50 meters GSD at Nadir, 0.52 meters GSD at 20° Off-Nadir Multispectral: 1.84 meters GSD at Nadir, 2.4 meters GSD at 20° Off-Nadir |
| Dynamic Range | 11-bits per pixel |
| Time Delay Integration (TDI) | Panchromatic – 6 selectable levels from 8 to 64 Multispectral – 7 selectable levels from 3 to 24 |
| Swath Width | 16.4 kilometers at nadir |
| Attitude Determination and Control | 3-axis stabilized |
| Actuators | Control Moment Gyros (CMGs) |
| Sensors | Star trackers, solid state IRU |
| GPS Position Accuracy & Knowledge | < 500 meters at image start and stop Knowledge: Supports geolocation accuracy below Retargeting |
| Agility Acceleration | 1.5 deg/s/s Rate: 3.5 deg/s Time to slew 300 kilometers: 9 seconds |
| Onboard Storage | 2199 gigabits solid state with EDAC Communications Image and Ancillary Data: 800 Mbps X-band |
| Housekeeping | 4, 16 or 32 kbps real-time, 524 kbps stored, X-band |
| Command | 2 or 64 kbps S-band |
| Max Viewing Angle | Accessible Ground Swath Nominally +/-40° off-nadir = 1355 km wide swath Higher angles selectively available Per Orbit Collection: 524 gigabits Max Contiguous Area Collected in a Single Pass: 96 x 110 km mono, 48 x 110 km stereo |
| Revisit Frequency | 1.1 days at 1 meter GSD or less 3.7 days at 20° off-nadir or less (0.52 meter GSD) |
| Geolocation Accuracy | Demonstrated <3.5 m CE90 without ground control |