QuickBird
| Organization | DigitalGlobe |
|---|---|
| Mission Type | Earth observation |
| Contractor | Ball Aerospace & Technologies[1] |
| Satellite of | Earth |
| Launch | October 18, 2001 on a Delta II |
| Launch site | Vandenberg Air Force Base |
| Mission duration | 5 years |
| Mass | 1018 kg (launch) |
| Webpage | http://www.digitalglobe.com/company/content-collection/quickbird |
| Orbital elements | |
| Semi-major axis | 6828 km |
| Inclination | 98 degrees |
| Orbital Period | 93.4 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| Visible cameras | 60 cm panchromatic
2.4 meter multispectral |
QuickBird is a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe and launched in 2001[2] as the first satellite in a constellation of three scheduled to be in orbit by 2008. QuickBird uses Ball Aerospace's Global Imaging System 2000 (BGIS 2000)[1] that collects the fourth highest resolution commercial imagery of Earth after WorldView-1, WorldView-2 and GeoEye-1 and boasts the largest image size and the greatest on-board storage capacity of any satellite. The satellite collects panchromatic (black and white) imagery at 60 centimeter resolution and multispectral imagery at 2.4- and 2.8-meter resolutions.
At this resolution, detail such as buildings and other infrastructure are easily visible. However, this resolution is insufficient for working with smaller objects such as a license plate on a car. The imagery can be imported into remote sensing image processing software, as well as into GIS packages for analysis. The imagery can also be used as a backdrop for mapping applications, such as Google Earth and Google Maps.
- Launch Date: October 18, 2001
- Launch Window: 1851-1906 GMT (1451-1506 EDT)
- Launch Vehicle: Delta II
- Launch Site: SLC-2W, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
- USAF Designation: Quickbird 2[3]
Contractors include Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Kodak and Fokker Space.
Contents |
QuickBird I [edit]
The first QuickBird was launched in November 2000, by EarthWatch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. QB-1 failed to reach planned orbit and was declared a failure.[4]
Specifications [edit]
Sensors
- 60 cm (24 in) (1.37 μrad) panchromatic at nadir
- 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) (5.47 μrad) multispectral at nadir
- MS Channels: blue (450-520 nm), green (520-600 nm), red (630-690 nm), near-IR (760-900 nm)
Swath width and area size
- Nominal swath width: 18 km at nadir
- Accessible ground swath: 544 km centered on the satellite ground track (to 30° off nadir)
- Area of interest
- Single area: 18 km by 18 km
- Strip: 18 km by 360 km
Orbit
- Altitude: 482 km – 98 degree sun synchronous inclination
- Revisit frequency: 1 to 3.5 days depending on latitude at 60 cm resolution
- Viewing angle: Agile spacecraft, in-track and cross-track pointing
- Period 94.2 minutes
Onboard storage
- 128 Gigabit capacity (approximately 57 single area images)
Spacecraft
- Fueled for 7 years
- 2100 lb (950 kg), 3.04 m (10 ft) in length
See also [edit]
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This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
References [edit]
- ^ a b Ball Aerospace: QuickBird
- ^ Digitalglobe: QuickBird
- ^ Mehuron, Tamar A., Assoc. Editor (August 2008). "2008 USAF Space Almanac - Major Civilian Satellites in Military Use". Air Force Magazine (Pub: Air Force Association) 91 (8): pp.49–50..
- ^ DigitalGlode History - QuickBird I
External links [edit]
- DigitalGlobe - QuickBird specifications
- Ball Aerospace
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