News | 2007 News Archive

Worldview-1 Satellite Successfully Launched

09/18/2007

 

AASC has played a significant part in the launch of DigitalGlobe’s Worldview-1 Satellite. The satellite launched on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at approximately 11:20 AM PDT.

AASC was contracted by Ball Aerospace to fabricate the Outer Barrel Assembly (OBA) and the solar panel substrates for this satellite. The OBA is the protective shroud over the imaging telescope and is comprised of standard graphite facesheets with aluminum core, and paste-bonded graphite angle clips on the joints. The solar panel substrates require the use of lightweight materials to meet rigorous operational and environmental requirements, as they must survive the most extreme hot and cold temperature cycles found in space.

The DigitalGlobe Worldview-1 satellite is the first of two second generation Worldview satellites that will provide high-resolution imagery to consumers around the world. There has been a continually increasing demand for more image collection and delivery to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), and national and international government and commercial sectors.

The satellite has the capability to collect up to 290,000 square miles of imagery per day, through its high-capacity panchromatic (black and white) imaging device. The satellite also offers improved agility, more efficient and effective daily revisit capability, improved accuracy, and streamlined collection and downloading capabilities. The second satellite (Worldview-2) is scheduled to be completed in late 2008, and will have even greater digital capacity than the first with multispectral capabilities.

Applied Aerospace Structures Corporation (AASC) is a full service provider of complex composite and metal bonded structures and assemblies for both military and commercial applications. Based in Stockton, California, AASC is classified as a small business with approximately 300 employees, designs and fabricates critical, lightweight, high-performance, engineered structural assemblies for the aerospace industry. The company is ISO 9001:2000 and AS9100, third party certified and has been in business since 1956. For more information, visit the company’s web site at www.aascworld.com.

To view the live launch, visit:

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bls/missions/worldview-1/