Launch Aboard Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus Rocket is Scheduled Within Next 45 Days From Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
ORBIMAGE announced today that
OrbView-3, its 1-meter resolution imaging satellite, has arrived at the
mission launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California. OrbView-
3 is scheduled for launch aboard Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus rocket into low-
Earth orbit within the next 45 days.
OrbView-3 will soon undergo a series of post-shipment tests and will then
be integrated with the Pegasus rocket at Orbital’s VAFB facilities. A team of
Orbital Sciences and ORBIMAGE engineers will then perform a series of pre-
launch combined systems tests to ensure that the systems of OrbView-3 and
Pegasus are functioning together as planned.
“We are now poised to begin a new chapter at ORBIMAGE with the successful
launch of OrbView-3,” said Matt O’Connell, ORBIMAGE’s CEO. “This long awaited
milestone is a critical element to our total reorganization plan. Following
the successful launch of OrbView-3, ORBIMAGE will then emerge from Chapter 11
with the industry’s best balance sheet and over $300 million in contract
backlog to fulfill.”
About OrbView-3 Satellite and Imagery:
The spacecraft was developed and built for ORBIMAGE by Orbital Sciences
Corporation at its satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles,
Virginia. OrbView-3 will be one of the world’s first commercial satellites to
provide high-resolution imagery from space. OrbView-3’s high-resolution
camera will acquire one-meter resolution panchromatic (black and white) and
four-meter resolution multispectral (color) imagery. This imagery will be
valuable to customers around the world for a wide-range of commercial,
government and consumer applications. With the ability to image virtually
anywhere in the world within three days, ORBIMAGE has established a global
distribution network to produce and deliver basic imagery as well as high-
resolution value-added products.
About ORBIMAGE:
ORBIMAGE is a leading global provider of Earth imagery products and
services, with a planned constellation of four digital remote sensing
satellites. The company currently operates the OrbView-1 atmospheric imaging
satellite launched in 1995, the OrbView-2 ocean and land multispectral imaging
satellite launched in 1997, and a worldwide integrated image receiving,
processing and distribution network. OrbView-3 is currently scheduled for
launch in early June. ORBIMAGE is also the exclusive U.S. distributor of
worldwide imagery from the Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellite, planned for launch
in 2004. ORBIMAGE also offers the SeaStar Fisheries Information Service, which
provides fish finding maps derived from OrbView-2 satellite imagery of the
world’s oceans to fishing customers worldwide.
More information about ORBIMAGE including details about the OrbView-3
satellite can be found at http://www.orbimage.com.
