QuickBird, the first satellite of DigitalGlobe, was launched October 18, 2001 from Vandenberg Air Force Base (USA, California).
The satellite was launched into a 450 km high near-Earth solar-synchronous orbit providing its passage over any area of the Earth every 1-5 days (subject to latitude).
The main advantages of QuickBird are a wide coverage (scene size is 16.5x16.5 km), high metric accuracy and possibility of ordering complex polygons.
Currently, an archive of panchromatic and multispectral images is available around the world.
Technical Characteristics
| Modes: | Panchromatic | Multispectral |
| Spectral Range (µm): | 0.45-1.053 | blue: 0.43-0.54 green: 0.46-0.62 red: 0.59-0.71 near infrared: 0.71-0.92 |
| Spatial Resolution at nadir, m: | 0.61 | 2.44 |
| Maximum off-nadir | 45° | |
| Metric Accuracy: | CE90 = 23 m | |
| Radiometric Resolution: | 11 bits / pixel | |
| Revisit Time (40°N): | 2.5 days at GSD 1 m or less 5.6 days at off-nadir 20° or less |
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| Acquire stereo-pair : | Yes, from one pass | |