The 30th Space Wing successfully launched an Atlas V rocket carrying the DigitalGlobe Worldview-4 satellite from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 10:30 a.m. PST on Friday, according to a press release. The launch was the first from Vandenberg since wildfires delayed an Atlas V launch in September. Atlas V is a United Launch Alliance rocket, and Worldview-4 is a Lockheed Martin satellite that “captures map-accurate images with a new, high-resolution camera,” according to the company. The data it provides will serve both military and commercial users. The camera is “so advanced it can discern the make of a car from its orbit in space,” according to the Air Force.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China military briefing Oct. 27, part of a bi-weekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonics weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…