| 2008-09-03 | To bloggers |
Constellation of five RapidEye remote sensing satellites is now on orbit
On orbit RapidEye satellite system (according to MDA)
Upon request of Kosmotrans company the Dnepr launch vehicle (RS-20) carrying five German RapidEye remote sensing satellites was launched from the Baikonur launch pad on August 29, 2008 at 11:15:53 Moscow time.
The operator of RapidEye system is the German company RapidEye AG, the project financing included the German space agency DLR, and the system design was accomplished by the Canadian company MDA. 175 kilogram minisatellites were manufactured by the British company Surrey Satellite Technology LTD (SSTL) and equipped with multispectral optoelectronic systems, which allow producing images with spatial resolution of 6.5 meters and swath width of 77 km (post-processing pixel size is 5 meters). Estimated lifetime of the satellites is seven years.
The primary areas of RapidEye products application are agricultural business, forestry, agricultural risk insurance, mapping (to produce DEM and 1:25000 scale maps), emergencies, 3D-modelling, etc. The system comprising five RapidEye satellites placed on the morning sun-synchronous orbit at the altitude of 630 km will ensure global coverage of any Earth territory within 1 day as well as repeated imaging on the following day. Total estimated system efficiency is 4.5 million square kilometers per day.
The launch was successful. The control station located in Germany established a radio contact with the satellites separated from the last stage of the launch vehicle. The five-satellite RapidEye system will provide unique opportunities for real-time acquisition of detailed multispectral images with high data renewal rate for the sake of various geoinformatics’ branches.
The operator of RapidEye system is the German company RapidEye AG, the project financing included the German space agency DLR, and the system design was accomplished by the Canadian company MDA. 175 kilogram minisatellites were manufactured by the British company Surrey Satellite Technology LTD (SSTL) and equipped with multispectral optoelectronic systems, which allow producing images with spatial resolution of 6.5 meters and swath width of 77 km (post-processing pixel size is 5 meters). Estimated lifetime of the satellites is seven years.
The primary areas of RapidEye products application are agricultural business, forestry, agricultural risk insurance, mapping (to produce DEM and 1:25000 scale maps), emergencies, 3D-modelling, etc. The system comprising five RapidEye satellites placed on the morning sun-synchronous orbit at the altitude of 630 km will ensure global coverage of any Earth territory within 1 day as well as repeated imaging on the following day. Total estimated system efficiency is 4.5 million square kilometers per day.
The launch was successful. The control station located in Germany established a radio contact with the satellites separated from the last stage of the launch vehicle. The five-satellite RapidEye system will provide unique opportunities for real-time acquisition of detailed multispectral images with high data renewal rate for the sake of various geoinformatics’ branches.
