Next generation imaging satellites launching soon

WorldView-2 will be launched aboard a Delta II launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). The launch vehicle will deliver the satellite into orbit where the satellite will begin its mission of collecting and recording high-resolution, commercial, digital Earth imagery from space.

United Launch Alliance provides the Delta II launch vehicle and mission services under a commercial launch service contract administered by Boeing Launch Services for DigitalGlobe, located in Longmont, Colorado. The first of the DigitalGlobe next-generation class of imaging satellites, WorldView-1, was launched by a Delta II in September 2007.

WorldView-2 is the first high-resolution 8-band multispectral satellite commercially available. Along with the four typical multispectral bands, blue, green, red and near infrared, WorldView-2 is introducing the following new color bands for enhanced multispectral analysis: red edge, coastal, yellow and near infrared 2. Operating at an altitude of 770 kilometers, WorldView-2 will provide half-meter panchromatic resolution and 1.8-meter multispectral resolution.

Highly detailed satellite imagery is currently used for a host of applications:
- Precise map creation
- In-depth image analysis
- Urban planning
- Internet portals and navigation technology
- Environmental monitoring/Disaster assessment and response
- Oil and gas exploration

Source: SatNews