DigitalGlobe was granted a license by NOAA in December 2000 to operate a 0.5 meter resolution satellite system. The company was able to modify its plans for QuickBird 2 to increase the resolution of the satellite from the originally planned 1-meter resolution imaging system to a 61-centimeter system by adjusting the orbit in which the satellite is flown. The result is that the panchromatic resolution is increased from 1-meter to 61-centimeter and multispectral is increased from 4-meter to 2.5-meter resolution. 

Digital images taken from orbit are expected to rival aerial photography in terms of both cost and possible economic and scientific applications. QuickBird data will have a resolution of 0.61 meter at nadir and 0.73 meter at 30° off-nadir for PAN band, and 2.5 meter at nadir and 2.9 meter at 30° off-nadir. The standard pan and multi resolutions for standard processed products will be 70-centimeter and 3.0-meter respectively. Customers who purchase unprocessed data can get imaging collection resolution of up to 61-centimeter. QuickBird’s normal field of regards is up to 30° off nadir. The revisit time varies with latitude; at 40° Latitude North, it averages 3.5 days at up to 30° off-nadir angle (corresponding to 0.73 meter resolution).

The satellite will fly in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 450 km (243 nmi). The lower orbit enables the spacecraft imaging camera to distinguish ground objects 61 cm (24 inches) across. The 950 kg (2094 lbm) spacecraft was manufactured by Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Corp., Boulder, Colorado and was based on the Ball Commercial Platform 2000 (BCP 2000) satellite bus. QuickBird has also been known as QuickBird 2.

In 1993, the United States Department of Commerce granted DigitalGlobe's predecessor, WorldView Imaging Corporation (WorldView). In January 1995, EarthWatch Incorporated was formed in the merger of the commercial remote sensing efforts of Ball Aerospace and WorldView. In September of 2001 EarthWatch changed its name to DigitalGlobe. The company has previously launched EarlyBird and QuickBird 1, both of which were lost. EarlyBird malfunctioned shortly after launch in late 1997; while QuickBird 1 was destroyed in a launch failure in November 2000. Both were launched using Russian rockets. DigitalGlobe selected Boeing's Delta 2 7320 to launch QuickBird, in March 2001.