WorldView-4 Satellite Sensor

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WorldView-4 (0.31m)

WorldView-4 Satellite Sensor (0.31m)

On January 7, 2019 Maxar Technologies Inc. reported that its WorldView-4 satellite experienced a failure in its control moment gyros ("CMGs"), preventing the satellite from collecting imagery due to the loss of an axis of stability.

Efforts are ongoing in conjunction with its suppliers in an attempt to restore satellite functionality, but thus far these efforts have been unsuccessful. At this time, Maxar believes that WorldView-4 will likely not be recoverable and will no longer produce usable imagery. Maxar operations has put the WorldView-4 satellite in a safe configuration and will continue to monitor the satellite's location and health. The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin and the CMGs were provided by Honeywell.

WorldView-4 satellite was successfully launched on Friday, November 11, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. DigitalGlobe's WorldView-4 is capable of discerning objects on the Earth's surface as small as 31cm in the panchromatic and will collect 4-band multispectral at 1.24-meter resolution. WorldView-4 will have similar resolution as the WorldView-3 satellite sensor. This advanced resolution will offer customers unprecedented, precise views for 2D or 3D mapping, change detection and image analysis.

WorldView-4 Satellite Sensor (0.31m)

GeoEye-2 Satellite Sensor

Watch WorldView-4 Launch into Space

WorldView-4 satellite offers exceptional geolocation accuracy, which means that customers will be able to map natural and man-made features to better than <4 meter CE90 of their actual location on the Earth’s surface without ground control points.

WorldView-4 will be flying at an altitude of 617 km (383 miles) and will be able to “revisit” any point on the globe every 4.5 days or sooner, depending upon the required look angle. The altitude could be revised before launch to utilize the recently obtained permission to acquire and deliver 0.25m resolution imagery.

WorldView-4 customers will have a choice of ordering BASIC (satellite projection), Geo (geometrically corrected), GeoProfessional (terrain corrected or ortho-rectified), or GeoStereo (stereo pair) products, as well as imagery-derived products, including digital elevation models (DEMs),digital surface models (DSMs), large-area mosaics and feature maps.

WorldView-4 Satellite Launch

Credit: United Launch Alliance and Lockheed Martin

Atmospheric Compensation - DigitalGlobe AComp Pre-Processing

Sample Images

WorldView-4 Satellite Image Gallery

WorldView-4 Satellite Sensor Specifications

Orbit	Altitude: 617 km Type: SunSync, 10:30 am descending Node Period: 97 min.
Life	Estimated Service Life: 10 to 12 years
Spacecraft Size and Aperture	Size: 5.3 m (17.7 ft) tall x 2.5 m (8 ft) across 7.9 m (26 ft) across deployed solar arrays Aperture: 1.1m
Sensor Bands	Panchromatic: 450 - 800 nm 4 Multispectral: Red:655 - 690 nm Green:510 - 580 nm Blue:450 - 510 nm Near-IR:780 - 920 nm
Sensor Resolution (GSD, Ground Sample Distance, geometric mean)	Panchromatic Nadir:0.31 m 20° Off-Nadir:0.34 m 56° Off-Nadir:1.00 m 65° (earth limb):3.51 m Multispectral Nadir:1.24 m 20° Off-Nadir:1.38 m 56° Off-Nadir:4.00 m 65° (earth limb):14.00 m
Dynamic Range	11-bits per pixel
Swath Width	At nadir: 13.1 km
Attitude Determination and Control	Type: 3-axis Stabilized Actuators: Control Moment Gyros (CMGs) Sensors: Star trackers, precision IRU, GPS
Retargeting Agility	Time to Slew 200 km: 10.6 sec
Onboard Storage	3200 Gb solid state with EDAC
Communications	Image & Ancillary Data: 800 Mbps X-band Housekeeping: 120 kbps real time, X-band Command: 64 kbps S-band
Max Contiguous Area Collected in a Single Pass (30° off-nadir angle)	Mono: 66.5 km x 112 km (5 strips) Stereo: 26.6 km x 112 km (2 pairs)
Revisit Frequency (at 40°N Latitude)	1 m GSD: < 1.0 day Total constellation >4.5 accesses/day
Geolocation Accuracy (CE90)	Predicted <4 m CE90 without ground control
Capacity	680,000 km² per day