The WorldView 3 (also annotated WorldView-3) commercial Earth observation satellite was launched into its planned Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, by an Atlas V401 launch vehicle at 1330 GMT on 13 August 2014. The launch took place from the US Western Test Range’s main launch site at Vandenberg, California. The flight was flown on behalf of Lockheed Martin by the United Launch Alliance (ULA).
The spacecraft, which was manufactured by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp for the commercial firm DigitalGlobe, is reported to be carrying an imaging camera and sensors capable of a panchromatic resolution of 0.31m, a multispectral resolution of 1.24m and a short wave infra red resolution of 3.7m. Such capabilities are close to those achieved by the best of the military spy satellites. DigitalGlobe aims to market the imagery commercial, albeit with a “shutter control” preventing them from promulgating images of sensitive areas (i.e. military bases etc) of USA and its allies.
