QuickBird
| Organization | DigitalGlobe |
|---|---|
| Mission Type | Earth observation |
| Contractor | Ball Aerospace & Technologies |
| Satellite of | Earth |
| Launch | October 18, 2001 on a Delta 7320-10 D288 |
| Launch site | Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-2W |
| Design life | 5 years |
| Mission duration | 15 |
| Mass | 1100 kg (launch) 951 kg (dry) |
| Webpage | Official website |
| Orbital elements | |
| Semi-major axis | 6828 km |
| Inclination | 98 degrees |
| Orbital Period | 93.4 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| Visible cameras | 61 cm panchromatic
2.4 meter multispectral |
951 kg (dry)
2.4 meter multispectral
QuickBird was a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe launched in 2001 and decayed in 2015. It was the first satellite in a constellation of three scheduled to be in orbit by 2008. QuickBird used Ball Aerospace's Global Imaging System 2000 (BGIS 2000). The satellite collected panchromatic (black and white) imagery at 61 centimeter resolution and multispectral imagery at 2.44- (at 450 km) to 1.63-meter (at 300 km) resolution, as orbit altitude is lowered during the end of mission life.
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.
Contractors include Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Kodak and Fokker Space.
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. Prior to QuickBird I and II, DigitalGlobe launched the EarlyBird 1 successfully in 1997 but the satellite lost communications after only four days in orbit due to power system failure.
QuickBird II (also QuickBird-2 or Quickbird 2), was launched October 18, 2001 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. The satellite was initially expected to collect at 1 meter resolution but after a license was granted in 2000 by the Department of Commerce/NASA, DigitalGlobe was able launch the QuickBird II with 0.61 meter panchromatic and 2.4 meter multispectral (previously planned 4 meter) resolution.
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