VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Nov. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) has successfully launched the WorldView-4 commercial remote sensing spacecraft for DigitalGlobe, Inc. An Atlas V 401 blasted off at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time from Space Launch Complex 3 East, placing WorldView-4 in orbit for customer DigitalGlobe and marking the 137th consecutive successful Atlas launch to date.

The WorldView-4 satellite, also built by Lockheed Martin, is the latest in a series of imaging and data satellites for customers around the world. The satellite will capture images so clear that they can distinguish between a sedan, van, and truck from nearly 400 miles in space – the same technology employed on DigitalGlobe's other WorldView satellites.

"We're thrilled to deliver yet another satellite to orbit for DigitalGlobe," said Steve Skladanek, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. "Our Atlas rocket brings unparalleled precision and reliability to every mission it carries."

DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite was also launched on an Atlas from this same location in 2014. The rocket, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401, was provided by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. For commercial missions, Lockheed Martin is responsible for contracts, licensing, marketing, sales and mission management of Atlas.

By leveraging DigitalGlobe's advanced constellation scheduling system to operate in concert with WorldView-3, WorldView-4 will more than double DigitalGlobe's coverage of the world's highest-resolution 30 cm commercial satellite imagery and increase the rate at which it grows its 16-year library of time-lapse high-resolution imagery.

WorldView-4 will orbit Earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and capturing as much as 680,000 square kilometers of the Earth's surface daily (18 terabytes) – the equivalent of the land area of Texas.

For additional information, visit our website: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/worldview4; photos available here.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin