WorldView-2 Satellite Sensor
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 Satellite, launched October 8, 2009, provides 0.5m Panchromatic (B&W) mono and stereo satellite image data. Click here to watch the WorldView-2 launch (courtesy Boeing).
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, mapping and monitoring applications, land-use planning, disaster relief, exploration, defense and intelligence, and visualization and simulation environments.
Coastal Band (400 - 450 nm): This band supports
vegetation identification and analysis, and supports bathymetric studies based upon its chlorophyll and water penetration characteristics. Also, this band is subject to atmospheric scattering and will be used to investigate atmospheric correction techniques.
Yellow Band (585 - 625 nm): Used to identify "yellow-ness" characteristics of targets, important for vegetation applications. Also, this band assists in the development of "true-color" hue correction for human vision representation.
Red Edge Band (705 - 745 nm): Aids in the analysis of vegetative condition. Directly related to plant health revealed through chlorophyll production.
Near Infrared 2 Band (860 - 1040 nm): This band overlaps the NIR 1 band but is less affected by atmospheric influence. It supports vegetation analysis and biomass studies.
The WorldView-2 imaging payload is the second such system engineered and manufactured by ITT Space Systems Division for DigitalGlobe. Once deployed, it will operate at an altitude of 770 kilometers, and the advanced on-board imaging system will capture pan-sharpened, multispectral images (with better than 0.5-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 also has the ability to 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 own ground stations.
WorldView-2 Satellite Sensor Characteristics
| 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: 0.46 meters GSD at Nadir, 0.52 meters GSD at 20° Off-Nadir Multispectral: 1.8 meters GSD at Nadir, 2.4 meters GSD at 20° Off-Nadir (note that imagery must be resampled to 0.5 meters for non-US Government customers) |
| | 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 |
| 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 | (CE 90) Specification of 12.2m CE90, with predicted performance in the range of 4.6 to 10.7 meters (15 to 35 feet) CE90, excluding terrain and off-nadir effects With registration to GCP's in image: <2.0 meters (6.6 ft) |
For more information on Characterization of Satellite Remote Sensing Systems, please click on the hyperlink.
DigitalGlobe currently operates the QuickBird satellite, which can collect black-and-white, or panchromatic, images with 0.61-meter resolution at Nadir. The satellite, launched in October 2001, also collects multispectral images with 2.5 meter resolution. WorldView-1 high-capacity, panchromatic imaging system features half-meter resolution imagery. 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 also is equipped with state-of-the-art geo-location accuracy of <2m without GCP's while with one (1) or two (2) GCP's the geospatial accuracy is <1m and further exhibits stunning agility with rapid targeting and efficient in-track stereo collection.
Please check back for image data for the WorldView-2 satellite.
