DigitalGlobe and Ball Aerospace and Technologies have jointly announced the completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR) of the WorldView-3, which is a remote sensing satellite from DigitalGlobe. The completion of the CDR, which was done in August will enable the scheduled launch of WorldView-3 in 2014.
The WorldView-3 will bring the total number of remote sensing satellites from DigitalGlobe to four. All the four satellites have been manufactured by Ball Aerospace, which has also built the previous version of the WorldView-3, namely WorldView-2, WorldView-1 and the QuickBird.
The CDR studied the differences between the previous version of the WorldView and its current version in specific areas such as cost, test requirements, documentation. The CDR will enable Ball Aerospace to proceed with the manufacturing, integration and testing of the program. While the bus integration is scheduled for the middle or end of 2012, the instrument integration is scheduled for 2013. Ball Aerospace will provide the BCP 5000 for the satellite system where the instrument for remote sensing will be integrated with the spacecraft bus of the system. The satellite system will be able to provide wholesome remote sensing information through the use of the BCP 5000, which has high levels of data storage, transmission, agility and stability.
All the WorldView versions are equipped with the latest Control Moment Gyroscopes, which are very flexible and agile and can provide higher quality images.
Source; http://www.digitalglobe.com