The first two Maxar WorldView Legion satellites are performing well after a successful launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 2 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
Maxar Intelligence has confirmed that both spacecraft deployed their solar arrays and began sending and receiving signals. The process of commissioning the satellites will now begin to deliver 30 cm class, 8-band optical imagery to users.
European Space Imaging (EUSI) upgraded its multi-mission ground station located at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) near Munich last year to ensure successful uplink and downlink with the new WorldView Legion constellation. Increased Near Real-Time (NRT) capabilities and more secure data encryption were also among the EUSI ground station upgrades.
“Today marks a new era in Earth Observation capabilities for the European market,” says Adrian Zevenbergen, CEO of EUSI. “The demand for rapid intelligence from 30 cm optical imagery across the continent has never been greater and, through our ground station here in Munich, we are excited to provide this crucial dataset to key European programmes as well as regional governments and commercial applications alike.”
These two satellites, part of a total of six planned, are already poised to significantly alleviate the capacity demands for Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery that Europe and North Africa have seen in recent years.
In a press release, representatives from Maxar Technologies, a long-time partner of EUSI, said:
“The successful launch of the first two WorldView Legion satellites represents a transformational moment for our business,” said Maxar Intelligence CEO Dan Smoot. “These first-of-a-kind satellites will extend the quality and capability of our industry-leading constellation, tripling our ability to collect 30 cm-class imagery with high revisit rates and at more varied times throughout the day—meaning faster, more actionable insights for our customers. Thank you to all team members across Maxar who have worked tirelessly on this program to get us to this moment.”
“We are proud to partner with Maxar Intelligence on the WorldView Legion program,” said Maxar Space Systems CEO Chris Johnson. “We are happy to report the first two satellites launched and are performing nominally, and we remain focused on preparing to launch the additional four satellites later this year.”
EUSI will now begin the process of readying its antenna to task the two new satellites and rapidly deliver the data to partners and customers across Europe and North Africa.