--- title: DigitalGlobe Satellite Launch GIF description: Images show DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 launching into orbit canonical: https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/ author: Jonathan Woods article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-15T22:09:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:41.079Z article:section: Science og:title: A Satellite Took Pictures of Another Satellite and Now It's a GIF og:description: How meta is that? og:url: https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f88b44d1faeeb3/69869fcacd68480f2309614b/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space.gif?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The launch of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 is seen from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Satellite Took Pictures of Another Satellite and Now It's a GIF twitter:description: How meta is that? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f88b44d1faeeb3/69869fcacd68480f2309614b/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space.gif?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Satellite Took Pictures of Another Satellite and Now It's a GIF ## Video: Watch a High-Tech Satellite Get Launched Into Space [Watch (HLS stream): Watch a High-Tech Satellite Get Launched Into Space](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gznxvm5u.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2014-08-13. Watch a High-Tech Satellite Get Launched Into Space_  by [Jonathan Woods](https://time.com/author/jonathan-d-woods/)  ## Jonathan Woods Aug 15, 2014 10:09 PM UTC  The launch of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 is seen from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Aug. 13, 2014. The launch of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 is seen from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Aug. 13, 2014.DigitalGlobe  by [Jonathan Woods](https://time.com/author/jonathan-d-woods/)  ## Jonathan Woods Aug 15, 2014 10:09 PM UTC A series of pictures provided to TIME by DigitalGlobe shows what kind of fun you can have when you own multiple satellites. The images captured the launch of the company’s newest satellite [launching into orbit](http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-launch-worldview-3.aspx) this past Wednesday. The new [WorldView-3 satellite](http://worldview3.digitalglobe.com/), worth roughly a half-billion dollars and about the size of a small RV, became the highest-resolution commercial satellite in space. DigitalGlobe, the company that funded its manufacture, said it will offer 31-centimeter resolution, much clearer than the current 50-cm aboard the WorldView-2. Technology aboard the new satellite will, among other things, supply Google Maps with higher resolution photos for “satellite view.” The satellite that shot the photos was flying at an altitude of over 300 miles, according to DigitalGlobe, and orbiting at a speed of 17,000 mph. [Video of the launch](http://time.com/3106769/) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California can be seen below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/"},"headline":"A Satellite Took Pictures of Another Satellite and Now It's a GIF","datePublished":"2014-08-15T22:09:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:41.079Z","description":"Well, this is pretty meta","url":"https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/","keywords":["Space","Newsfeed","Tech","Science topic","satellite"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f88b44d1faeeb3/69869fcacd68480f2309614b/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jonathan Woods","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jonathan-d-woods/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f88b44d1faeeb3/69869fcacd68480f2309614b/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The launch of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 is seen from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014.","caption":"The launch of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 is seen from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014.","creditText":"DigitalGlobe","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/","name":"A Satellite Took Pictures of Another Satellite and Now It's a GIF"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch a High-Tech Satellite Get Launched Into Space","description":"Watch a High-Tech Satellite Get Launched Into Space","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gznxvm5u/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-13T22:50:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gznxvm5u.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3120150/satellite-launch-digital-globe-space/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```