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Ball Aerospace, ITT to build next DigitalGlobe satellite

Denver Business Journal - by Greg Avery

DigitalGlobe, the Colorado earth imaging company, is paying Ball Aerospace & Technologies and ITT corporations $301 million to build the company’s next satellite.

Longmont-based DigitalGlobe Inc. (NYSE: DGI) hired Boulder-based Ball Aerospace to build and integrate the WorldView-3 satellite for delivery by 2014. The contract is worth up to $180.6 million if Ball (NYSE: BLL) meets deadlines and technology milestones for the satellite.

Hanover, Md.-based ITT will build the imaging systems for WorldView-3 for up to $120.5 million. The imaging technology is contracted for delivery by 2013.

The contract awards, finalized Aug. 27, comes after the federal government committed to buying nearly $3.6 billion worth of satellite imagery of earth from DigitalGlobe over the next decade. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s scheduled $250 million in annual payments to DigitalGlobe increase to $300 million in 2014, the year DigitalGlobe plans to launch WorldView-3.

“Coming on the heels of an important win, this is the absolute right time for development of our third-generation satellite, which will satisfy growing demand from our government and commercial customers alike,” said DigitalGlobe CEO Jill Smith, in a press release.

Ball Aerospace and ITT worked on previous satellites for DigitalGlobe, and they both own small equity stakes in DigitalGlobe.

“Our long partnership with DigitalGlobe is built on a strong record of performance and mission success in meeting the increased demand for earth imaging collection,” said David Taylor, Ball Aerospace CEO and president.