WorldView-3 Satellite Sensor

Discover what's possible. Get a complimentary consultation today.

Home
Satellites
WorldView-3 (0.31m)

WorldView-3 Satellite Sensor (0.31m)

The WorldView-3 satellite sensor was licensed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to collect in addition to the standard Panchromatic and Multispectral bands, eight-band short-wave infrared (SWIR) and 12 CAVIS imagery. The WorldView-3 satellite was successfully launched on August 13, 2014. Watch satellite launch.

WorldView-3 Satellite Sensor (0.31m)

WorldView-3 is the first multi-payload, super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite sensor operating at an altitude of 617 km. WorldView-3 satellite provides 31 cm panchromatic resolution, 1.24 m multispectral resolution, 3.7 m short wave infrared resolution and 30 m CAVIS resolution. The satellite has an average revisit time of <1 day and is capable of collecting up to 680,000 km2 per day.

WorldView-3 satellite bears a strong resemblance to WorldView-2 launched on October 8, 2009 in terms of its performance characteristics. The WorldView-3 satellite sensor benefits from significant improvements including cost savings, risk reduction, and faster delivery for its customers.

Sample Images

Airport

Madrid, Spain (40cm)

Kalgoorlie Mine

Australia (30cm)

Madrid

Spain (40cm)

Atmospheric Compensation - DigitalGlobe AComp Pre-Processing

WorldView-3 Satellite Image Gallery

WorldView-3 Satellite Sensor Specifications

Click on image to view in full resolution

Launch Date	August 13, 2014
Orbit	Altitude: 617 km Type: SunSync, 1:30 pm descending Node Period: 97 min.
Life	Spec Mission Life; 7.25 years Estimated Service Life: 10 to 12 years
Spacecraft Size, Mass and Power	Size: 5.7 m (18.7 feet) tall x 2.5 m (8 feet) across, 7.1 m (23 feet) across the deployed solar arrays Mass: 2800 kilograms (6200 pounds) Power: 3.1 kW solar array, 100 Ahr battery
Sensor Bands	Panchromatic: 450-800 nm 8 Multispectral: (red, red edge, coastal, blue, green, yellow, near-IR1 and near-IR2) 400 nm - 1040 nm 8 SWIR: 1195 nm - 2365 nm 12 CAVIS Bands: (desert clouds, aerosol-1, aerosol-2, aerosol-3, green, water-1, water- 2, water-3, NDVI-SWIR, cirrus, snow) 405 nm - 2245 nm
Sensor Resolution ( or GSD, Ground Sample Distance; off-nadir is geometric mean)	Panchromatic Nadir: 0.31 m GSD at Nadir 0.34 m at 20° Off-Nadir Multispectral Nadir: 1.24 m at Nadir, 1.38 m at 20° Off-Nadir SWIR Nadir: 3.70 m at Nadir, 4.10 m at 20° Off-Nadir (Commercial delivery at 7.5m resolution) CAVIS Nadir: 30.00 m
Dynamic Range	11-bits per pixel Pan and MS; 14-bits per pixel SWIR
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
Pointing Accuracy and Knowledge	Accuracy: <500 m at image start and stop Knowledge: Supports geolocation accuracy below
Retargeting Agility	Time to slew 200 km: 12 seconds
Onboard Storage	2199 Gb solid state with EDAC
Communications	Image & Ancillary: 800 & 1200 Mbps X-band Housekeeping: 4, 16, 32 or 64 kbps real-time, 524 kbps stored, X-band Command: 2 0r 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 4.5 days at 20° off-nadir or less
Geolocation Accuracy(CE90)	Predicted Performance: <3.5 m CE90 without ground control
Capacity	680,000 km2 per day