United Launch Alliance Atlas V Launches WorldView-3
Satellite for DigitalGlobe
Aug. 13, 2014
A United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Atlas V rocket carrying the WorldView-3 satellite for
DigitalGlobe launched at 11:30
a.m. PDT today from Space Launch Complex-3.
Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services procured the
Atlas V for this mission. This is the fourth successful
launch in six weeks and the 87th successful
mission since ULA was formed in
December 2006.
"Congratulations to our
commercial mission partners Lockheed Martin Commercial
Launch Services and Digital Globe for today's
spectacular launch of the Atlas V carrying the WorldView-3
satellite," said
Jim Sponnick, ULA
vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs. "The team's
dedication to mission success, one launch at a time,
brought us to today's successful launch, delivering
WorldView-3 to provide the next generation in earth
imaging capabilities for DigitalGlobe."
This mission was launched
aboard an Atlas V 401 configuration vehicle, which
includes a 4-meter-diameter payload fairing. The Atlas
booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS
RD-180 engine, and the Centaur upper stage was powered
by a single Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A engine.
"This launch marks ULA's tenth
successful launch of fifteen planned this year," said
Sponnick. "The ULA team remains focused on mission
success and on-time deliveries for our customer's most
valuable payloads."
WorldView-3 is the first
multi-payload super-spectral, high resolution commercial
satellite for earth observations and advanced geospatial
solutions. This high spatial resolution multispectral
satellite imagery is used for civil government mapping,
land use planning, disaster relief, exploration,
defense, intelligence, visualization and simulation
environments.
ULA's next launch is the Atlas
V CLIO mission for the U.S. Government from Space Launch
Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
Florida.
