WorldView-2

WorldView-2 is a commercial Earth observation satellite launched on 8 October 2009, operated by Vantor (formerly Maxar Intelligence, rebranded October 2025). ^[1] It introduced eight-band multispectral capability at high resolution to the commercial market, complementing the panchromatic-only WorldView-1 instrument. ^[2]

The satellite operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit at 770 km altitude, 97.8 degree inclination, and 10:30 LTDN. ^[3] Wikipedia's orbital table records a slightly different altitude of 772-773 km (perigee/apogee); 770 km is the nominal value used by WMO OSCAR and ESA EO Gateway. ^{[4] [3]} It carries a panchromatic band at approximately 0.46 m GSD and eight multispectral bands (coastal, blue, green, yellow, red, red-edge, near-infrared 1, near-infrared 2) covering a 16.4 km swath. ^[2] Revisit is approximately 1.1 days. ^[3] The archive extends approximately 16 years. ^[5] The satellite was in an extended operational phase as of early 2026; no decommission announcement had been made, though Vantor's WorldView Legion constellation is expected to succeed the earlier WorldView-series missions. ^[5]