Posted: Wed, Jan 3, 2007, 6:44 AM ET (1144 GMT)
Ball Aerospace has won a contract to build the WorldView 2 high-resolution remote sensing satellite for DigitalGlobe, the company announced Tuesday. The spacecraft, planned for launch in late 2008, is based on the Ball BCP 5000 bus also being used for WorldView 1, another DigitalGlobe remote sensing satellite scheduled for launch later this year. WorldView 2 will operate in a higher orbit than WorldView 1, in excess of 800 kilometers, and will offer a larger data collection capability and improved communications downlinks, allowing the spacecraft to collect more imagery per day and reduce revisit times. While WorldView 1 was built with financial support from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's NextView program, DigitalGlobe is funding WorldView 2 independently.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  Ball Aerospace press release
•  DigitalGlobe press release