WorldView Legion Satellites in Orbit After SpaceX Launch from Vandenberg SFB | Local News | Noozhawk

"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," Smoot added.

WorldView Legion says the satellites' data will serve customers in various ways, including for mission planning, disaster response, defense intelligence and more. 

Once operational after undergoing post-launch checkout, the new satellites will triple Maxar Intelligence's capacity to collect 30 centimeter-class and multispectral imagery. That means the craft can spot items 30 centimeters or nearly 12 inches in size.

The Maxar constellation can capture images of areas on Earth as frequently as every 20 to 30 minutes, from sunup to sundown, visiting a location up to 15 times a day, the firm said. 

"With a mix of sun-synchronous and mid-inclination orbits, WorldView Legion dramatically expands Maxar's ability to revisit high-interest areas to better inform critical, time-sensitive decisions," a Worldview Legion data sheet says.

WorldView Legion boasts a collection capacity of 5 million square kilometers daily. June and Bob Schroeder of Thousand Oaks react to a sonic boom from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster after it returned to Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday. They watched from Union Sugar Road west of Lompoc. Credit: Len Wood / Noozhawk photo

The WorldView Legion satellites were the first of the Maxar 500 Series Buses, or satellite frames, built at the firm's facilities in Palo Alto and San Jose. 

The Maxar 500 series bus is designed as a mid-size platform that can be equipped with various instruments for multiple missions and orbits. 

"WorldView Legion and the Maxar 500 series platform is the culmination of decades of experience in building satellites for customer missions," said Chris Johnson, Maxar Space Systems CEO.

The firm's plans to launch the other four satellites later this year.

WorldView Legion follows multiple earlier satellites that also have launched from Vandenberg aboard different rockets between 2007 and 2016.

Thursday's record-tying Falcon mission marked the 20th for the first-stage booster, or lower segment, and a successful landing helps pave the way for number 21 at some point. Two other first-stage boosters also have completed 20 flights. 

"Reusability is key to lowering the cost of spaceflight, which enables more investments in  critical scientific research," said Ronnie Foreman, a SpaceX commercial sales manager.

SpaceX intends to qualify its boosters for up to 40 flights, with the reuse helping reduce the cost of placing satellites in space.

The firm also captures the two halves of its payload fairings, or rocket nose cone, for reuse on future missions.

This was the 44th launch of 2024 for SpaceX, with 14 taking off from Vandenberg and the remainder departing from Florida.