- December 9, 2007
- Posted by: EARSC
- Categories: EARSC News, Internationalization
Scheduled to be launched in the first three months of 2008, the COSMO-SkyMed 2 satellite has been finally put in orbit on 9th December 2007 from the American Air Force Base of Vandenberg on the coast of California.
The COSMO-Skymed system, funded by the Italian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Research, while the Italian Space Agency (ASI) operates it, is the first worldwide satellite observation system with dual character (civilian/military). Composed of four satellites, COSMO-Skymed 2 is the second one now in orbit. The first satellite has been successfully launched on 7th June 2007.
For Earth monitoring purpose, it is equipped with radar sensors of the SAR type able to collect information on the world’s weather and climate, including earthquakes and seismic analysis, landslides, droughts, agricultural mapping, environmental disaster monitoring and floods, by night and sunlight and with any weather condition. Among its strong points are its flexibility (it can operate in three different modalities, routine, crisis or emergency) and its short revisit time.
Being a contribution to the GMES system, COSMO-Skymed will put in orbit its third satellite in the course of the summer 2008.
Source GMES.Info