ITT Corporation announced today that it was selected to build the imaging system – the “eyes” of the satellite-for DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 high-resolution commercial earth imaging satellite, anticipated to be available for launch by the end of 2014.
“ITT’s world-class imaging system for WorldView-3 will further expand the applications for satellite imagery in both commercial and government markets,” said Chris Young, president, ITT Geospatial Systems. “ITT has been recognized as the aerospace industry’s leading imaging payload provider for over 50 years. With further emphasis being placed on the use of commercial imaging systems to supplement national satellite capabilities, ITT’s technologies are well aligned to support not only DigitalGlobe, but government agencies as well.”
DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 will provide imagery that will help meet the increasing needs of the intelligence community and Department of Defense.
Jeff Kerridge, senior vice president, DigitalGlobe stated, “DigitalGlobe has been extremely pleased with the capabilities and performance of the imaging systems that ITT has provided for our current constellation. We look forward to partnering with ITT yet again to bring a highly advanced remote sensing satellite to the market.”
ITT will immediately begin work on the WorldView-3 imaging system, which will include a sensor subsystem and an optical telescope unit. ITT has an extensive heritage with DigitalGlobe-building the sensors or imaging systems for their current three-satellite constellation-QuickBird, WorldView-1 and -2.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. will build the spacecraft bus for the WorldView-3 imaging satellite.
