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The first images from our third and fourth WorldView Legion satellites have arrived. These stunning, high-resolution images show points of interest in New Zealand, Dubai, and Hawaii, including an intraday collection that demonstrates the power of “dawn-to-dusk” collection.

The images include:

  • New Zealand: All three images of the airport in Christchurch, New Zealand, were collected in a three-hour period by the same satellite on November 7, 2024, showing aircraft movement and fueling operations in near real-time.
  • Dubai: A high-resolution image of the Burj Khalifa, collected on November 17, 2024, at 2:52 p.m. local time, shows incredible detail of architectural features and shadows.
  • Hawaii: Another early morning image collected at 7:27 a.m. local time on November 7, 2024, shows the Grand Princess cruise ship docked at the Pier 2 Cruise Terminal in Honolulu, Hawaii, before its departure later that day.
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How “dawn-to-dusk” collection empowers our end users

The third and fourth WorldView Legion satellites are Maxar’s first satellites in mid-inclination orbit (MIO), meaning they orbit around Earth’s mid-latitudes (+/- 45 degrees latitude), where 90% of the world’s population resides.

Satellites in MIO can collect images at different times of day, from sunup to sundown.

A sun-synchronous orbit takes a satellite around the poles of the Earth while a mid-inclination orbit takes a satellite around the middle section of the Earth. The geostationary orbit causes a satellite to rotate at the same pace as Earth, allowing the satellite to remain over a similar region for its lifespan.

The rest of our satellites are in sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), meaning they orbit around Earth’s poles and collect imagery at the same times each day. This mix of SSO and MIO gives our fleet the temporal diversity to dramatically expand revisits to high-interest areas.

This increased temporal diversity empowers end users with more near real-time data and insights for a wide range of use cases, including:

  • Site monitoring: Analysts can monitor key areas of interest at more times throughout the day, enabling them to observe relevant activity in near real-time to support a wide range of use cases across the intelligence and business sectors.
  • Change monitoring: A wider range of temporal data helps analysts better understand patterns of change and build more sophisticated trend models for a wide variety of use cases. For example, city planners focused on traffic management can get a clearer view of how traffic patterns change throughout the day to inform their planning work.

The most advanced Earth observation constellation on orbit

The first six WorldView Legion satellites extend the quality and capability of our industry-leading constellation. Today, we already have the capacity to collect nearly 2 million sq km of 30 cm-class imagery per day (our first two WorldView Legion satellites started feeding into our products and supporting customer missions last month).

Once all six satellites are at full operating capability next year, we will be able to collect more than 3.6 million sq km of 30 cm-class imagery per day, and more than 6 million sq km of high-resolution imagery overall. Our constellation will also be able to revisit some Earth locations up to 15 times a day with “dawn to dusk” collection.

No other commercial Earth observation constellation on orbit can match these revisit rates at 30 cm-class resolution. From defense and intelligence to living maps for navigation, WorldView Legion was designed to deliver unrivaled speed, quality and scale.

What’s next for the WorldView Legion program?

  • We continue to progress through the commissioning and calibration process for our third and fourth WorldView Legion satellites, which were launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, in August 2024.
  • We expect both satellites to be supporting customer missions soon.

We are on track to launch fifth and sixth WorldView Legion satellites in the coming months.

Learn more about our WorldView Legion satellites and how they enhance the capabilities of Maxar’s Earth imaging constellation here: https://www.maxar.com/worldview-legion

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