WorldView-3 Commercial Remote Sensing Spacecraft to be Launched Aboard Atlas V

Tomorrow, Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services will launch the WorldView-3 commercial remote sensing spacecraft aboard an Atlas V. To view the launch live via streaming video, go to www.lockheedmartin.com/worldview-3.

Rocket/Payload: Atlas V 401 flying the WorldView-3 mission for customer DigitalGlobe.

Date: Wednesday, August 13

Site: Space Launch Complex 3 East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

Launch Time: The launch window opens at 11:30 a.m. PDT and closes at 11:45 a.m. PDT. Separation occurs approximately 20 minutes after liftoff and signal acquisition is 77 minutes after launch.

Launch Notes: WorldView-3 will be the 47th Atlas V mission since its inaugural flight in 2002. In all, there have been 117 successful Atlas launches in a row spanning more than two decades.

Mission Description: This mission will deliver the WorldView-3 satellite in orbit for DigitalGlobe, a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions.

• WorldView-3 is the first multi-payload, super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite for earth observations and advanced geospatial solutions.
• Operating at an expected altitude of 617 km, WorldView-3 will have an average revisit time of less than one day and will be capable of collecting up to 680,000 square kilometers of imagery per day, further enhancing DigitalGlobe’s capacity for rapid and reliable collection.
• WorldView-3 will enable customers to search for new sources of minerals and fuels, manage forests and farms, and accelerate DigitalGlobe’s exploitation of Geospatial Big Data™ – a living digital inventory of the surface of the earth.

Launch Provider: LMCLS is the exclusive provider of Atlas rockets to all non-U.S. Government customers. With dedicated launch sites and unparalleled orbital insertion accuracy, Atlas is unmatched for performance, reliability and schedule assurance. In addition to WorldView-3, LMCLS will launch Mexico's Morelos-3 (MEXSAT-2) satellite in 2015 and WorldView-4, also for customer DigitalGlobe, in 2016.

Launch Information and Updates: To download imagery and mission details and view the launch via streaming video, go to www.lockheedmartin.com/worldview-3.

Source: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/