SpaceX Falcon 9 On August 15, a pair of Maxar Intelligence satellites were launched to take images from the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission called Maxar-2 It began at 9 a.m. This is the second of three launches the company needs to deliver a group of six high-resolution imaging satellites. World View LegionThe Falcon 9 launched the first two from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 2. The first images from those satellites were released last month.

Maxar-2 It was SpaceX’s 79th launch of 2024 and represented the 16th flight of the first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which returned to Cape Canaveral about eight minutes after liftoff. About an hour and 50 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed that both Maxar-2 satellites had been successfully deployed.

These are the third and fourth satellites World View Legionoperated by Maxar Intelligence, an Earth observation company headquartered in Westminster, Colorado. These are the first Maxar satellites to be launched into a medium inclination orbit, which allows them to observe areas between latitude 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south, providing coverage of the most populated areas. This inclination allows frequent visits to a wide latitude range. The first two WorldView Legion satellites are in subpolar orbit.

World View Legion are electro-optical imaging satellites with a resolution of 30 centimeters used to collect imagery and map the planet. Maxar Intelligence is the government’s primary provider of commercial electro-optical imaging. The company won a $3.2 billion contract from the Office of National Intelligence in 2022 to provide imagery and mapping services for ten years.