DigitalGlobe Inc. awarded a contract to MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to supply ground station systems for the WorldView imagery satellite, MDA announced Dec. 14.

MDA will provide DigitalGlobe’s international customers with ground systems capable of programming, receiving and processing imagery from the WorldView satellites. The systems will be offered both as new and additional satellite ground stations.

DigitalGlobe operates the QuickBird imagery satellite and is developing a pair of WorldView spacecraft. WorldView-1 is scheduled to be launched in mid 2007, and WorldView-2 in 2008.

The first ground station installation is planned to take place following the launch of WorldView-1, MDA said.