Wednesday, December 3, 2008

QuickBird Satellite Images Available for Sale

DigitalGlobe(TM) announced that it has entered into full commercial operations by offering its QuickBird imagery products to the global marketplace. DigitalGlobe began selling products to its Charter Club members in January and to resellers in March, and the company is now making imagery available to all customers with the announcement of its commercial market rollout. QuickBird images are unprecedented in terms of resolution and quality.

"We took a phased approach to making our products available to the general marketplace by first serving our select Charter Club members and then our resellers," said Herbert Satterlee, president and CEO for DigitalGlobe. "We wanted to ensure all of our systems operated smoothly before we began selling images to the public. The positive response we've received so far from the entire industry has been overwhelming."

Working closely with its global reseller network and through a direct sales channel, DigitalGlobe serves the needs of customers with the responsiveness and expertise the marketplace requires. Through its partnerships with vendors of software for geographic information system (GIS) and image analysis, processing and visualization, DigitalGlobe is set to provide products customers can easily use with popular software packages. QuickBird Imagery Products have use in a number of applications ranging from transportation planning, environmental monitoring and facilities mapping to agriculture assessments, defense and intelligence planning and forest mapping.

DigitalGlobe's commitment to successful partnerships allows the company to substantially expand the marketplace for remote sensing data and value-added information products. "The level of energy we're already feeling throughout the industry is an indication of the growing acceptance of satellite imagery as a viable and valuable information tool," Satterlee stated.

The QuickBird satellite was launched in October 2001 to collect images of the Earth at sub-meter resolution. Imagery collected by the satellite has been filling DigitalGlobe's digital archive and, by the end of 2002, will represent a significant portion of the Earth's surface. QuickBird imagery that exists in DigitalGlobe's archive is available for under $600. New collections may also be ordered.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

QuickBird Satellite Sensor Characteristics

Launch Date October 18, 2001
Launch Vehicle Boeing Delta II
Launch Location Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA
Orbit Altitude 450 Km
Orbit Inclination 97.2°, sun-synchronous
Speed 7.1 Km/sec (25,560 Km/hour)
Equator Crossing Time 10:30 AM (descending node)
Orbit Time 93.5 minutes
Revisit Time 1-3.5 days, depending on latitude (30° off-nadir)
Swath Width 16.5 Km x 16.5 Km at nadir
Metric Accuracy 23 meter horizontal (CE90%)
Digitization 11 bits
Resolution

Pan: 61 cm (nadir) to 72 cm (25° off-nadir)

MS: 2.44 m (nadir) to 2.88 m (25° off-nadir)

Image Bands

Pan: 450-900 nm

Blue: 450-520 nm

Green: 520-600 nm

Red: 630-690 nm

Near IR: 760-900 nm

About the QuickBird Satellite Sensor

QuickBird is a high resolution satellite owned and operated by DigitalGlobe. Using a state-of-the-art BGIS 2000 sensor (PDF), QuickBird collects image data to 0.61m pixel resolution degree of detail. This satellite is an excellent source of environmental data useful for analyses of changes in land usage, agricultural and forest climates. QuickBird's imaging capabilities can be applied to a host of industries, including Oil and Gas Exploration & Production (E&P), Engineering and Construction and environmental studies