Quickbird 1, 2 (QB 1, 2)

Quickbird 2 [Ball]

The QuickBird 61-centimeter imaging system will return high-resolution, commercial Earth imagery from space. The system will collect 61-centimeter class panchromatic and 2.5-meter multispectral stereoscopic data over a large field of regard with rapid target selection. The data will contribute to mapping, agricultural and urban planning, weather research and military surveillance.

Ball Aerospace designed, fabricated, integrated, and tested the total space segment consisting of a spacecraft bus and the 61-centimeter imaging instrument.

Originally slated as a 1-meter resolution imaging system, plans were modified by the customer, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., to increase the resolution system by adjusting the orbit in which the satellite is flown. As a result, panchromatic resolution increases from 1 meter to 61 centimeters and multispectral increases from 4- to 2.5-meter resolution. This means that QuickBird can identify images as small as 2 feet.

QuickBird 1 launched on a Kosmos-3M from Plesetsk, but was lost due to launch vehicle failure.

QuickBird 2 launched on a Boeing Delta-7320-10C rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California October 18, 2001. QuickBird's launch has resulted in the highest resolution commercial satellite until then.

The satellite operates in a 450-km 98-degree sun-synchronous orbit, with each orbit taking 93.4 minutes.