AP
 
California, Sep 19: A rocket carrying a next-generation Earth-imaging satellite blasted off Tuesday on a mission that promises to zoom in on objects as small as 18 inches across.

The WorldView-1 satellite, built for DigitalGlobe, which supplies much of Google Earth's imagery, was lofted into space aboard a Delta 2 rocket. The satellite separated from the rocket about an hour after liftoff and was circling some 300 miles above the Earth.

WorldView-1 was designed to collect up to 290,000 square miles' worth of imagery a day — an area about the size of Texas. Information gathered by the 5,000-pound probe can be used by governments and companies to assess damage after a natural disaster or plan escape routes before a catastrophe, the company said.

It is expected to be in operation for about seven years.

WorldView-1 is the first of two advanced remote sensing satellites that DigitalGlobe plans to launch. The company has said its sister satellite, WorldView-2, will be ready for launch late next year.

DigitalGlobe, a privately held Colorado-based provider of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery, also manages the QuickBird commercial satellite launched in 2001. While WorldView-1's resolution is only slightly higher than QuickBird, the new probe can store more images because it has a larger onboard system.