Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Atlas V Launches WorldView-3 Satellite (Hi-Res Commercial Earth Watcher) from VAFB

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 14, 2014 2:07:05 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Atlas V Launches WorldView-3 Satellite (Hi-Res Commercial Earth Watcher) from VAFB

United Launch Alliance Atlas V Launches WorldView-3 Satellite for DigitalGlobe
Tenth Successful ULA Launch of 2014

Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., (Aug. 13, 2014) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the WorldView-3 satellite for DigitalGlobe launched at 11:30 a.m. PDT today from Space Launch Complex-3. Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services procured the Atlas V for this mission. This is the fourth successful launch in six weeks and the 87th successful mission since ULA was formed in December 2006.

"Congratulations to our commercial mission partners Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services and Digital Globe for today's spectacular launch of the Atlas V carrying the WorldView-3 satellite," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs. "The team's dedication to mission success, one launch at a time, brought us to today's successful launch, delivering WorldView-3 to provide the next generation in earth imaging capabilities for DigitalGlobe."

This mission was launched aboard an Atlas V 401 configuration vehicle, which includes a 4-meter-diameter payload fairing. The Atlas booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine, and the Centaur upper stage was powered by a single Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A engine.

"This launch marks ULA's tenth successful launch of fifteen planned this year," said Sponnick. "The ULA team remains focused mission success and on-time deliveries for our customer's most valuable payloads."

WorldView-3 is the first multi-payload super-spectral, high resolution commercial satellite for earth observations and advanced geospatial solutions. This high spatial resolution multispectral satellite imagery is used for civil government mapping, land use planning, disaster relief, exploration, defense, intelligence, visualization and simulation environments.

ULA's next launch is the Atlas V CLIO mission for the U.S. government from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation's most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 80 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system. ULA – Bringing rocket science down to Earth.

For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321). Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch and twitter.com/ulalaunch.

Copyright © 2014 United Launch Alliance, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

August 13, 2014 16:20 ET
DigitalGlobe Announces the Successful Launch of WorldView-3
World's Most Advanced High-Resolution Commercial Satellite Operational
LONGMONT, CO--(Marketwired - Aug 13, 2014) - DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI), a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions, today announced the successful launch of WorldView-3, the company's sixth and most advanced super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite. The satellite launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
"The successful launch of WorldView-3 extends DigitalGlobe's commanding technological lead and will enable us to help our customers see through smoke, peer beneath the ocean's surface and determine the mineral and moisture content of the earth below -- all with unprecedented clarity," said Jeffrey R. Tarr, Chief Executive Officer of DigitalGlobe. "We'd like to thank our customers, partners, team members and investors for their support in bringing to the world the new capabilities made possible with this success."
WorldView-3 will collect super-spectral imagery at 0.31 meter resolution -- delivering 5 times the clarity of the company's nearest competitor. In addition WorldView-3 will offer the most spectral diversity available commercially and will be the first to offer multiple shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands that allow for accurate imaging through haze, fog, dust, smoke and other air-born particulates. The satellite is also the only satellite to offer CAVIS, a cloud, aerosol, water vapor, ice and snow atmospheric correction instrument, which monitors the atmosphere and corrects data for an unprecedented level of consistency.
"The unmatched abilities that WorldView-3 brings to our constellation will enable us to provide our customers with information and insight never before possible and advance our efforts to create a living digital inventory of the earth," said Tarr.
The satellite and atmospheric monitoring instrument called CAVIS were built by Ball Aerospace (NYSE: BLL). Exelis (NYSE: XLS) built the integrated, super-spectral payload consisting of a telescope, sensor and shortwave infrared system, making WorldView-3 the first commercial satellite to carry such capabilities. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle provided by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services (LMCLS) delivered the satellite in orbit.
To learn more about WorldView-3, please visit WorldView3.DigitalGlobe.com
About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time. Sourced from the world's leading constellation, our imagery solutions deliver unmatched coverage and capacity to meet our customers' most demanding mission requirements. Each day customers in defense and intelligence, public safety, civil agencies, map making and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, navigation technology, and providers of location-based services depend on DigitalGlobe data, information, technology and expertise to gain actionable insight.
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We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward looking statements.

©2014 DigitalGlobe, Inc.

AmericaSpace
For a nation that explores
August 13th, 2014
Atlas V Launches Hi-Res Commercial Earth Watcher From Vandenberg
By Ben Evans

United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V roars away from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:30:30 a.m. PDT Wednesday, 13 August, to deliver WorldView-3 into orbit. Photo Credit: Robert C. Fisher/AmericaSpace
Flying for a third time in less than three weeks, its second Atlas V in only 12 days and its tenth overall mission of 2014, United Launch Alliance (ULA) has successfully boosted DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit, some 383 miles (617 km) above Earth. Liftoff of the Atlas V—which flew in its "401" configuration, numerically designated to describe a 13-foot-diameter (4-meter) payload fairing, no strap-on rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage—took place precisely on time at 11:30:30 a.m. PDT Wednesday, 13 August, from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. All ascent milestones proceeded with exceptional smoothness and WorldView-3 was delivered perfectly into orbit about 19 minutes after liftoff. It will spend at least seven years acquiring "superspectral" Earth imagery at resolutions never previously attainable for commercial users.
Following the encapsulation of WorldView-3 into its two-piece (or "bisector") payload fairing on 26 July, and integration with the Atlas V, the entire vehicle stood an impressive 196 feet (60 meters) in height. Weather at Vandenberg on Tuesday night seemed iffy, with forecasters predicting only a 40-percent likelihood of acceptable conditions. Their primary concern centered on clouds below 2,000 feet (600 meters), which threatened to breach Launch Commit Criteria. However, Wednesday dawned fine and at 7:15 a.m. PDT the giant Mobile Service Tower (MST) was retracted from the vehicle. The first of two built-in holds in the countdown occurred at T-2 hours and at 9:30 a.m. ULA Launch Conductor Edward Johansen completed his final poll of all stations, then issued a formal "Go" to commence fueling the Atlas V Common Core Booster (CCB) and the Centaur upper stage with liquid oxygen, cryogenically cooled to -183 degrees Celsius (-297 degrees Fahrenheit).
By now, the weather outlook had brightened markedly, with AmericaSpace's Launch Tracker noting at 9:42 a.m. that conditions at Vandenberg were sunny, with light winds of about 8 knots and a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). By 10:50 a.m., the propellant tanks were full and the liquid oxygen had transitioned to a "topping" mode, whereby the boiled-off cryogens were continuously replenished until close to launch time. At 11:14 a.m., the final balloon data indicated perfect conditions, with a 100-percent likelihood of acceptable weather at T-0.
Rising rapidly from the mountain-ringed Vandenberg landscape, the Atlas V crisply delivered WorldView-3 into orbit. Photo Credit: ULA
The final, variable-duration hold in the countdown occurred at T-4 minutes, during which time all launch controllers were polled for the final time for their "Go-No Go" status. With a short, 15-minute "window"—extending from 11:30 a.m. until 11:45 a.m.—their existed precious little leeway in the timeline, should problems occur. In the wake of this final poll, which produced a string of "Go" calls from all stations, Mr. Johansen issued a formal "Go for Launch" at 11:25 a.m. and gave permission to begin the terminal countdown. Shortly thereafter, the clock resumed ticking from T-4 minutes. Under its auspices, the Atlas V autosequencer assumed primary command of all vehicle critical functions through liftoff. The Flight Termination System (FTS), which would destroy the rocket in the event of a major accident during ascent, was brought online and armed at 11:27 a.m. Liquid oxygen replenishment concluded, fuel and oxidizer valves were closed for flight and the propellant tanks were verified at Flight Pressure.
"Range is Green!" came the encouraging Western Range report at T-1 minute.
At T-25 seconds, the crisp triplet of calls familiar to all Atlas V launch watchers echoed across the airwaves, denoting the status of the booster, its upper stage and its payload—"Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go WorldView-3!"—as the final phase of the countdown ticked away. At T-5 seconds, sound-suppressing water flooded the SLC-3E pad surface and into the flame trench, in order to minimize reflected energy and acoustic waves at the moment of liftoff. The ignition sequence got underway at T-2.7 seconds, when the Atlas V's single, Russian-built RD-180 engine, powered by liquid oxygen and a highly refined form of rocket-grade kerosene, known as "RP-1", rumbled to life. Punching out 860,000 pounds (390,000 kg) of thrust, the vehicle lifted off precisely on the opening of the window at 11:30:30 a.m.
Momentarily disappearing into a cloud deck, seconds into the flight, the Atlas—whose thrust-to-weight ratio is only 1:16—seemed to lumber away from SLC-3E and away from the mountain-ringed launch site, climbing vertically for its first 16 seconds of flight. At this point, the Centaur's avionics commanded a pitch, roll and yaw program maneuver to actively guide the stack onto the proper flight azimuth to insert WorldView-3 satellite into its Sun-synchronous orbit of 383 miles (617 km). By a half-minute into the ascent, it entered Closed Loop Guidance Control. "This provides feedback from instruments on the rocket to ensure that it continues on the correct path during this section of the flight," explained the Launch Tracker. At this time, the Atlas transitioned to Zero Angle of Attack flight mode, flying a pre-programmed attitude which had been calculated based on upper-level winds before launch.
The Atlas V's Common Core Booster (CCB) was powered by a single, Russian-built RD-180 engine. Photo Credit: ULA
By 85 seconds into the flight, the vehicle had gone supersonic, heading towards its second most critical ascent milestone after liftoff: "Maximum Dynamic Pressure", colloquially known as "Max Q", at which point the airframe was placed under the greatest amount of aerodynamic stress. The Atlas passed smoothly through Max Q and the RD-180 engine continued to burn hot and hard, finally shutting down at 11:34:35 a.m. PDT, just over four minutes after departing Vandenberg. A few seconds passed, then the CCB separated from the vehicle, leaving the Centaur in charge of the final push to deliver WorldView-3 into orbit. Fueled with a mixture of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, the Centaur's electronic brain had been busy in the final seconds, "chilling-down" its fuel lines, ahead of the ignition of its 22,300-pound-thrust (10,100 kg) RL-10A engine at T+4 minutes and 20 seconds.
Capable of restarting in flight, the Centaur was tasked with just a single "burn" on this mission. During this period, the two-piece ("bisector") payload fairing was jettisoned, exposing WorldView-3 to the space environment for the first time. "The satellite is now exposed," noted the Launch Tracker, "but the thin atmosphere on the remaining trip to orbit poses no threat to the spacecraft." After just 12 minutes, the Centaur engine shut down at 11:47 a.m. Shortly afterwards, at 11:49:40 a.m., WorldView-3 separated from its upper stage to begin the complex process of unfurling its electricity-generating solar arrays and other appendages. The Centaur, meanwhile, executed a number of avoidance maneuvers to eliminate the risk of a collision and ensure a safe destructive re-entry.
As described in AmericaSpace's WorldView-3 preview article, WorldView-3 and its owner—the Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe—represents the most powerful "superspectral" Earth imaging satellite for commercial purposes ever placed into orbit. Capable of acquiring imagery at resolutions of 12.2 inches (31 cm) panchromatic and 4 feet (1.24 meters) multispectral, WorldView-3 is expected to benefit from a recent U.S. Department of Commerce authorization, which legally entitles DigitalGlobe to collect and sell commercial imagery as fine as 10 inches (25 cm) panchromatic and 3.3 feet (1 meter) multispectral by the early part of 2015.
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite will occupy an orbit of 383 miles (617 km) and has the ability to revisit ground sites at least once daily. Image Credit: Exelis, Inc.
The satellite's relatively low orbit of 383 miles (617 km) is roughly equivalent to the distance between Southern California's Hollywood sign and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. "If the imagery were located at the Hollywood sign," DigitalGlobe noted on its blog, "users would be able to count all of the people on the Golden Gate Bridge." In addition to its remarkable imaging capabilities, WorldView-3 will have the capability to revisit the same ground sites at least once per day and can cover over 260,000 square miles (680,000 square km) in each 24-hour period. Its advanced Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) also permit it to be reoriented over a desired imaging spot in just 4-5 seconds, as opposed to the 30-45 seconds needed by traditional reaction wheels. A 12-band Cloud, Aerosol, Water Vapor, Ice and Snow (CAVIS) instrument will also allow the satellite to automatically correct its images for atmospheric effects, such as haze, soot, dust and other contaminants.
Wednesday's launch of the WorldView-3 mission represents the tenth of 15 planned flights by ULA in an action-packed 2014. To date, the Centennial, Colo.-based launch services provider—formed in December 2006 between Boeing and Lockheed Martin—has delivered payloads into orbit on behalf of NASA and the U.S. military. These have included NASA's latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) in January and the second Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) in July, together with a Defense Meteorological Satelllite Program (DMSP) in April, two classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payloads in April and May, the long-delayed Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)-4 mission in July and no less than three Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIF satellites in February, May and most recently on 1 August. Following Wednesday's scheduled launch of WorldView-3, ULA anticipates lofting the top-secret CLIO mission in September, another GPS Block IIF satellite in October, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) spacecraft in November and, in the first half of December, another classified NRO payload and the long-awaited Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 of NASA's Orion spacecraft.

Copyright © 2014 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

DigitalGlobe Launches Most Powerful Commercial Earth-Watching Satellite Into Space
By Mike Wall, Senior Writer | August 13, 2014 02:49pm ET

DigitalGlobe's powerful WorldView-3 Earth-imaging satellite blasts off on Aug. 13, 2014.
Credit: United Launch Alliance View full size image
The sharpest-eyed commercial Earth-watching satellite ever built soared into space Wednesday (Aug. 13) on a mission to observe our home planet in spectacular detail.
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 spacecraft, which can resolve features as small as 1 foot (31 centimeters) across, lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT; 11:30 a.m. PDT) Wednesday.
WorldView-3 is designed to peer through fog and smoke to image Earth's surface in detail unprecedented for a nongovernmental spacecraft, DigitalGlobe representatives said. Further, the satellite will gather data in 29 different spectral bands, opening up a wealth of potential uses for its data. [WorldView-3 Satellite Blasts Off: Photos]
For example, WorldView-3 imagery could help orchard owners keep tabs on their trees from afar, said Kumar Navulur, DigitalGlobe's director of next-generation products.
"We can actually tell you, for each individual tree, how healthy it is," Navulur said Tuesday (Aug. 12) during a prelaunch press briefing. "And potentially there are models that can estimate the yield of each individual tree. That's the power of information we are bringing to the table with WorldView-3."
Technician working on the WorldView-3 satellite, which Ball Aerospace built for DigitalGlobe.
Credit: Ball Aerospace
View full size image
These capabilities should broaden the customer base for Colorado-based DigitalGlobe into areas such as oil and gas exploration, forestry and agriculture, he added.
"We don't play that much in that area today, but I think WorldView-3 will enable us to start accessing those markets," Navulur said.
WorldView-3's high-resolution prowess approaches what aerial photography companies are currently offering, said Jeff Dierks, WorldView-3 program manager at Ball Aerospace, which built the spacecraft for DigitalGlobe.
"A WorldView satellite has a unique capability to basically image anywhere in the world within a day. That's tough to do with an airplane," Dierks told Space.com. "So a company like DigitalGlobe sees an almost limitless market … as they get getter resolution and better imagery."
An instrument aboard WorldView-3 called CAVIS (short for Cloud, Aerosol, water Vapor, Ice, Snow) will help the satellite get a sharp view of the ground despite the presence of dust, soot and other gunk in Earth's atmosphere, Dierks added.
"What you're actually doing with CAVIS is viewing the column in the atmosphere that you are imaging down through, then 'true[ing] up' the color bands of images," he said. "As some of my DigitalGlobe team colleagues say, we can make the Ferrari look red like it's supposed to."
WorldView-3, which was delivered to a polar orbit 383 miles (617 kilometers) above Earth's surface, joins five other Earth-observation satellites in the DigitalGlobe constellation. The keenest eyes among those other five belong to GeoEye-1, which boasts a resolution of 1.3 feet (41 cm).
WorldView-3 will be able to image 263,000 square miles (680,00 square km) per day, while the entire fleet's capacity is 1.54 million square miles (4 million square km) per day — nearly half the area of the continental United States, DigitalGlobe representatives said.
This broad coverage will allow the fleet to keep track of natural-resource use and human-rights violations around the world — a key part of DigitalGlobe's vision, Navulur said. (George Clooney's Satellite Sentinel Project uses DigitalGlobe imagery to monitor abuses in Sudan and other parts of Africa, and the company recently lent a hand in the search for a missing Malaysian passenger jet.)
"It's all about seeing a better world," Navulur said. "We want to enable our customers to see the Earth clearly and in new ways, and make the Earth a better place."
WorldView-3 weighs 6,200 lbs. (2,812 kilograms) and measures 19 feet tall and 23 feet wide (5.8 by 7 meters) with its solar panels deployed. A series of thruster and instrument checkouts will take place over the next four weeks, and a data-certification process will follow to make sure the satellite's imagery is up to snuff.
"That is all planned to be done by about three months after launch," Dierks said. Given that all goes well, "then we kind of take a step back, and DigitalGlobe takes over."
Leonard David, Space.com's Space Insider Columnist, contributed to this story from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Copyright © 2014 TechMediaNetwork.com All rights reserved.

Atlas 5 boosts WorldView-3 remote sensing satellite to orbit
08/13/2014 03:30 PM
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News

An Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from California and streaked into orbit Wednesday carrying the most powerful remote sensing satellite ever built for the commercial market, a spacecraft capable of zooming in on a baseball field and detecting home plate from an altitude of nearly 400 miles.

With a rush of flame and a billowing cloud of smoke, the 189-foot-tall Atlas 5 thundered to life at 2:30 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 11:30 a.m. local time), vaulting away from launch complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles, boosting a state-of-the-art remote-sensing satellite into orbit for DigitalGlobe. (Credit: ULA)

Powered by a Russian-built RD-180 first-stage engine, the rocket streaked away to the south over the Pacific Ocean toward a polar orbit where DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite will be able to image the entire planet as it rotates below.

The RD-180 shut down about four minutes after liftoff, the first stage fell away as planned and a hydrogen-fueled Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A engine ignited to complete the boost to orbit.

The Centaur stage shut down 16 minutes after launch and a little more than three minutes after that, the 6,200-pound WorldView-3 satellite, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., was released into a planned 383-mile-high orbit where it will take the spacecraft 97 minutes to complete one trip around the planet.

Capable of resolving surface features as small as one foot across, WorldView-3 features a state-of-the-art multi-spectral imaging system, a high-speed data downlink operating at 1.2 gigabits per second and control moment gyroscopes that will allow ground controllers to quickly re-orient the spacecraft for on-demand observations.

From an altitude of nearly 400 miles, WorldView-3 offers unprecedented resolution for a commercial satellite.

"Imagine you're in San Francisco," said Neal Anderson, vice president of technology at DigitalGlobe. "With the capabilities of this satellite we could see home plate in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Not only can we see home plate, we can see the players in the field. And if we knew which teams were playing and what color uniforms they were using, we could tell you which team is in the field and which team is batting. We could even count empty seats. And if the stadium scoreboard was big enough, we could tell you the score."

WorldView-3 is the sixth and most powerful satellite in a constellation operated by DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colorado.

"At DigitalGlobe, we feel very strongly that WorldView-3 is not just an expansion of our constellation, but it's really a major step forward in our ability to fulfill our purpose of 'seeing a better world,'" said company spokeswoman Nancy Coleman.

Government licensing and a recent easing of restrictions on resolution for commercial satellites mean space-based imaging is "really getting into the realm of aerial imagery from airplanes," Jeff Dierks, the program manager at Ball Aerospace, told Spaceflight Now.

Data from WorldView-3 and other satellites in DigitalGlobe's constellation are sold to government agencies, land developers, relief agencies, the oil and gas industry, agricultural concerns, city planners and a wide variety of other users.

"When we scan across an area of the ground, we're actually taking 29 separate images in 29 different color wavelength bands," Anderson said of WorldView-3's sensors. "That allows us on the ground to process the data and turn it into all manner of different products for our customers.

"If we're looking at a forest, for example, we can tell not only that there's a forest but we can tell you what kind of trees are in the forest. If we're looking at an agricultural field, we can tell you what crops are growing, whether they're growing well, whether they're diseased, what the moisture content is in the soil."

A new shortwave sensor aboard WorldView-3 will even allow the spacecraft to see through haze and smoke. But Dierks said the popular computer program Google Earth "is probably the use most people are familiar with."

"If you've looked up your house on Google Earth, the image taken from space on there was probably taken with one of the WorldView spacecraft," Dierks said.

It will take engineers about two months to activate, calibrate and check out WorldView-3's systems.

This was the 48th Atlas 5 launch and the 87th overall for United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing, builder of the Delta family or rockets, and Lockheed Martin, developer of the Atlas. It was only the 10th commercial launch of an Atlas 5, with the rest used primarily for U.S. military payloads and NASA spacecraft.

ULA plans to launch 15 Atlas and Delta rockets in 2014.

© 2014 William Harwood/CBS News

Newly launched commercial satellite has zoom view of Earth
By Irene Klotz
Wed Aug 13, 2014 4:49pm EDT
(Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday to put a sharp-eyed, Earth-watching satellite into orbit for DigitalGlobe.
The 188-foot (60-meter) tall booster, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, lifted off at 11:30 a.m. and headed south over the Pacific Ocean.
About 20 minutes later, the rocket's upper-stage deposited the 6,200-pound (2,800-kg) WorldView-3 satellite into a 380-mile (600-km) polar orbit. At that altitude, WorldView-3 is capable of seeing individual trees in a forest and identifying cars by their windshields.
"Imagine that you were in San Francisco. With the capabilities of this satellite we could see home plate in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. We can see the players in the field ... We could even count empty seats," DigitalGlobe Vice President Neil Anderson said in an interview during a live launch webcast.
Longmont, Colorado-based DigitalGlobe has been selling images of Earth and data to government agencies, commercial companies, agricultural groups and research organizations since 2000. WorldView-3 will become the sixth member of the company's orbital network.
In addition to being able to image objects as small as about 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter, the $500 million satellite, built by Ball Corp, has new sensors that can see through smoke and atmospheric haze.
"We can tell you what kind of trees are in the forest ... We can tell you what crops are growing, whether they are growing well, whether they're diseased, what the moisture content is in the soil. We can determine manmade objects. We can determine types of roads. We can actually see mineral content on the ground," Anderson said.
DigitalGlobe is not the only company in the remote sensing business. Google Inc in June announced it was buying Skybox Imaging of Mountain View, California, which plans to operate a fleet of 24 small satellites that capture high-resolution images and video.
Another Silicon Valley startup, privately owned Planet Labs, is launching shoebox-sized imaging satellites from aboard the International Space Station. The company plans to operate a constellation of 131 satellites by mid-2015. The U.S. government also has its Landsat program, which began in 1972.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Jim Loney)

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