- August 26, 2008
- Posted by: EARSC
- Categories: EARSC News, Uncategorised
(August 26 2008). “The launch has been set for 11:15 a.m., Moscow time,” Kosmotras International Consortium told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
The satellites will be launched under a contract with Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) to increase a commercial earth observation satellite constellation, to be operated by Germany’s RapidEye AG. The five satellites will monitor the earth surface for agricultural companies from an altitude of 620 kilometers. Their service life is seven years. Each will have six cameras with a resolution of up to 6.5 meters.
The satellites were built on order from the German company, which had signed a contract with Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler. The Canadian concern, in turn, ordered the satellite’s base unit with SSTL.
The Ukrainian-Russian-Kazakh consortium Kosmotras converts RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missiles (NATO reporting name Satan) into Dnepr launch vehicles, used to launch small satellites from Baikonur and from the launch pad Yasny in Russia’s Orenburg region.
© 2008 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow – English. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow – English
