* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: RADARSAT-2

Blobrana · L

L minus 30 minutes

Blobrana · L

Blobrana · L

Starsem will launch the Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellite on Friday, December 14, 2007 at 13:17 UTC, 02:17 pm Paris time.

There is live coverage of the Soyuz launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, starting at 12:15 UTC (01:15 Paris time).

Blobrana · L

As its older brother inches toward a fiery death after a spectacular life of 11 years -- long for space flights -- Canada's new radar satellite is being boxed and prepared for a December launch in Russia.
Testing at Ottawa's David Florida Laboratory is finished. Radarsat-2 has been shaken to simulate the violence of launch, and baked and frozen to simulate the nasty weather in space. Through it all the $531-million satellite survived in great shape.
Now it sits, folded up to the size of a minivan, waiting for the giant Antonov aircraft that will fly it next month to Iceland, then to Moscow, to catch a train for Launch Pad No. 6 at Baikonur.

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Blobrana · L

The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), today visited the Canadian Space Agency David Florida Laboratory, in Ottawa, to view the next generation commercial satellite, RADARSAT-2, which is scheduled to be launched on December 8, 2007 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Minister Prentice emphasised that this new satellite represents powerful state-of-the-art technology that will enhance Canadas ability to protect Canadian sovereignty in the Far North, in keeping with the Arctic strategy outlined in the Speech from the Throne.

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Blobrana · L

Far more serious is a campaign to classify the Canadian Radarsat earth observation project as a space weapon. This is a highly successful and recently commercialised program for radar imaging of the Earths surface. It has foreign customers and partners, and some might be put off with association with an alleged weapon system, if the accusation developed more traction.

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Blobrana · L

The US Department of the Air Force, Space and Missile System Centre intends to issue a sole source contract to analyse the data and operational utility of Radarsat-2, which is scheduled to launch in August.
Radarsat-2 will replace the existing Radarsat-1, which the U.S. government has relied on for the past 12 years. The U.S. government is the largest customer of Radarsat-1, according to Air Force contract documents released Thursday.
The proposed contract will be a study of Radarsat-2 data for addressing warfighter and intelligence needs for terrain elevation and SAR imagery data. This contract is valued at approximately $10 million.

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Blobrana · L

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., a provider of essential information solutions, has announced that the launch of RADARSAT-2 is now scheduled for March 2007.
This aligns completion of the final integration and test with the recently secured launch window on the Soyuz II being provided by Starsem.

Blobrana · L

Starsem has announces today the signing of a contract with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA) for the launch of MDA's RADARSAT-2 Earth observation satellite by a Soyuz launch vehicle.

The launch is planned to take place in December 2006 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Earth observation satellite will be placed into a Sun Synchronous Orbit, at 798 kilometres altitude.

Starsem is the Soyuz company, bringing together all key players involved in the production, operation and international commercial marketing of the world's most versatile launch vehicle. Shareholders in Starsem are Arianespace, EADS, the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Samara Space Centre. The Starsem manifest for Soyuz missions currently includes contracted launches for the European Space Agency, Eumetsat and Globalstar LLC.

RADARSAT-2 is a unique cooperation between the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and MacDonald Dettwiler. The CSA is providing approximately 75% of the funding for the development of the satellite and MacDonald Dettwiler is investing the difference. MacDonald Dettwiler will own and operate the satellite and the CSA's investment will be recovered through the supply of imagery to a number of government agencies during the mission lifetime.

The design of RADARSAT-2 has been driven by the needs of the emerging Earth Observation market, to provide users around the world with high-quality data products. RADARSAT-2 will be capable of imaging at spatial resolutions ranging from 3 to 100 metres with swath widths ranging from 20 to 500 kilometres. RADARSAT-2 is also the first commercial radar satellite to offer multi-polarization capability that aids in identifying a wide variety of surface features and targets. The satellite has a design life of 7 years.

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