BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 24 -- The QuickBird satellite, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., is providing the highest-resolution, commercially available imagery of Earth. QuickBird is a Ball Global Imaging System 2000 product consisting of a Ball High-resolution Camera 60 integrated with a Ball Commercial Platform 2000 bus. The QuickBird bus is the fourth completed by Ball Aerospace in as many years. As the highest-resolution commercial satellite in operation, QuickBird circles the Earth at a 450-km 98-degree sun-synchronous orbit, which provides consistent revisit time year-round. The Ball-built high-resolution camera uses the agility of the Ball Aerospace bus to rapidly retarget and capture regions requested by customers. It takes approximately four seconds to capture a 16.5-km x 16.5-km image. QuickBird was launched Oct. 18 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.