Orbital Sciences [NYSE: ORB] has shipped the OrbView-3 imaging satellite to a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Calif., where the spacecraft will be attached to and integrated with Orbital’s Pegasus launch vehicle that will carry it into low-Earth orbit. Orbital built OrbView-3 for Orbital Imaging at its satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Va. The satellite is scheduled for launch in approximately 45 days. The OrbView-3 satellite will supply optical imagery of the Earth using its onboard camera that will take 1-meter resolution panchromatic (black-and-white) and 4-meter resolution multi-spectral (color and infrared) images. In its 470- kilometer circular orbit inclined at 97 degrees to the equator, the satellite will be able to cover the Earth in less than three days.
