DigitalGlobe WorldView 4 satellite launch onboard an Atlas V rocket. Photo: United Launch Alliance

[Via Satellite 11-14-2016] DigitalGlobe has successfully launched its WorldView 4 satellite, the company’s newest high-resolution commercial imaging satellite. DigitalGlobe has acquired signals from the Lockheed Martin-built satellite indicating its proper position and health 45 minutes after its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California aboard an Atlas V rocket.

Aerojet Rocketdyne propulsion on the Atlas V included the RL10C-1 upper-stage engine, six helium pressurization tanks and a dozen Centaur upper-stage Reaction Control System thrusters (RCS). For the WorldView 4 satellite, Aerojet Rocketdyne provided 12 MR-106L 5-lbf hydrazine rocket engines, which provide all of the maneuvering and attitude control propulsion for the mission.

The WorldView 4 satellite is the fifth active spacecraft in the company’s constellation and will more than double DigitalGlobe’s capacity to collect 30-cm commercial satellite imagery and will accelerate the growth of DigitalGlobe’s 80-petabyte, 16-year time-lapse image library, according to a statement released by the company. WorldView 4 aims to enhance global transparency and security, power location-enabled applications and services, support the response to global humanitarian crises, among others.