Featured Image Source: Maxar Technologies

Maxar Technologies plans to launch its new generation Earth-imaging WorldView Legion satellites to space next year. “Maxar is building something unprecedented—a new generation of satellites made to image the Earth’s most active areas more frequently, and at a higher resolution, than ever before. That’s WorldView Legion—set to launch in 2021,” the company wrote in a press release.

Maxar Technologies signed a deal with SpaceX to deploy the first pair out of six WorldView Legion satellites in September 2021. The satellites will launch atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. “Our next-generation Earth imaging constellation will change everything. We're not just launching more satellites. In 2021 we will deploy a legion, WorldView Legion, providing unprecedented visibility into our changing planet to solve the biggest challenges facing our world today,” Maxar states.

With the first set of six new WorldView Legion satellites, Maxar will compete in the national security market. The satellites will improve imagery with a resolution of 30 centimeters while offering views of specific regions as many as 15 times a day, with 24/7 connectivity.

What does it take to make WorldView Legion? How about 60+ years of building world-class #spacecraft and components, with more than 280 #satellites manufactured, and 2000 collective years on orbit and counting. #ItTakesALegion https://t.co/TMaWM6mfPy pic.twitter.com/jsXixzKV1Y

— Maxar Technologies (@Maxar) November 18, 2020

Before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Maxar planned to begin launching WorldView Legion satellites early 2021. However, COVID-19 caused the operation to be delayed due to- “some of the vendor hardware is showing up just a little later than we originally planned,” Maxar Technologies President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Jablonsky told reporters. “We continue to make progress on the integration, assembly and test of all six spacecraft and instruments, and we expect to go into environmental testing early next year,” Jablonsky said during a November 5 company earnings call. “This is a complex program and many elements need to come together to ensure the level of quality and mission success we expect.”

Cars line up for #COVID19 testing at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, #California, as seen here in this #satellite image. Long lines are forming around the U.S. as the surge of infections drive a surge in demand for testing. https://t.co/UcfWIUfLt8 pic.twitter.com/EKYxl9AkmX

— Maxar Technologies (@Maxar) November 19, 2020