VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Nov.
11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) has
successfully launched the WorldView-4 commercial remote sensing
spacecraft for DigitalGlobe, Inc. An Atlas V 401 blasted off at
10:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time
from Space Launch Complex 3 East, placing WorldView-4 in orbit for
customer DigitalGlobe and marking the 137th consecutive successful
Atlas launch to date.
The WorldView-4 satellite, also built by Lockheed Martin, is the
latest in a series of imaging and data satellites for customers
around the world. The satellite will capture images so clear that
they can distinguish between a sedan, van, and truck from nearly
400 miles in space – the same technology employed on DigitalGlobe's
other WorldView satellites.
"We're thrilled to deliver yet another satellite to orbit for
DigitalGlobe," said Steve Skladanek,
president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. "Our Atlas
rocket brings unparalleled precision and reliability to every
mission it carries."
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite was also launched on an
Atlas from this same location in 2014. The rocket, a United Launch
Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401, was provided by Lockheed Martin
Commercial Launch Services. For commercial missions, Lockheed
Martin is responsible for contracts, licensing, marketing, sales
and mission management of Atlas.
By leveraging DigitalGlobe's advanced constellation scheduling
system to operate in concert with WorldView-3, WorldView-4 will
more than double DigitalGlobe's coverage of the world's
highest-resolution 30 cm commercial satellite imagery and increase
the rate at which it grows its 16-year library of time-lapse
high-resolution imagery.
WorldView-4 will orbit Earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000
miles per hour and capturing as much as 680,000 square kilometers
of the Earth's surface daily (18 terabytes) – the equivalent of the
land area of Texas.
For additional information, visit our website:
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/worldview4; photos available
here.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda,
Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace
company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is
principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology
systems, products and services.
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SOURCE Lockheed Martin