The QuickBird satellites were commercial Earth imaging satellites with 1 m to 61 cm resolution owned by EarthWatch, later DigitalGlobe.

The system collected 61 cm class panchromatic and 2.5 m multispectral stereoscopic data over a large field of regard with rapid target selection. The data contributed to mapping, agricultural and urban planning, weather research and military surveillance.

Ball Aerospace designed, fabricated, integrated, and tested the total space segment consisting of a spacecraft bus and the BGIS-2000 (Ball Global Imaging System 2000) imaging instrument.

Originally slated as a 1 m resolution imaging system, plans were modified by the customer, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., to increase the resolution system by adjusting the orbit in which the satellite is flown. As a result, panchromatic resolution increases from 1 meter to 61 cm and multispectral increases from 4 to 2.5 m resolution.