The first two WorldView Legion spacecraft at Maxar Space Systems’ manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, California, ahead of shipment to launch base. Photo: Maxar

The first two WorldView Legion satellites have arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and could be launched as soon as April. Maxar Space Systems, which built the satellites for Maxar Intelligence, announced the news on Monday morning. SpaceX will launch the satellites in a Falcon 9 mission. 

Monday’s news comes after a long break in updates about the constellation – Maxar had been largely quiet on updates about the WorldView Legion satellite after the company was acquired by private equity firm Advent International and went private in 2023. The satellites were previously targeted to launch as early as mid-2021. 

These are the first two of six planned WorldView Legion satellites, which will improve Maxar Intelligence’s imagery resolution and accuracy. The company said that when all six satellites are launched, it will triple Maxar Intelligence’s capacity to collect 30 cm-class and multispectral imagery. The full Maxar constellation will consist of 10 electro-optical satellites which the company said will image changing areas on Earth as frequently as every 20 to 30 minutes.

“WorldView Legion will extend the quality and capability of our industry-leading constellation, redefining Earth observation constellation performance and providing customers with unprecedented access to timely, actionable insights that help drive mission success,” said Dan Smoot, Maxar Intelligence CEO.