RapidEye Constellation Launch Successful
Aug 29, 2008
bron: GPS World
The five-satellite RapidEye earth imaging satellite constellation successfully launched onboard a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, lofting the spacecraft into orbit.
RapidEye is a commercial small satellite mission that will enable global monitoring of the Earth's surface, according to the company. The constellation is designed to provide insurance and food companies, farmers, government and other agencies, and institutions throughout the world with up-to-date, customized information products and services.
SSTL in Guildford, United Kingdom, designed and built the spacecraft bus, the spacecraft control center, and performed the spacecraft assembly, integration, and test. MDA subcontractor Jena-Optronik GmbH of Jena, Germany, designed and built the imaging payloads. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), the prime contractor of the RapidEye mission, has direct responsibility for the mission design, the spacecraft design, and the ground planning and image processing system. The Canadian Commercial Corp., a Government of Canada Crown corporation, is acting as the contracting agency between MDA and RapidEye AG.
Following the launch, the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle in slightly different orbits to allow constellation phasing, and will eventually be positioned equally spaced within the same orbit about 19 minutes apart, according to SSTL. It will control the constellation throughout the two week launch and early operation phase in a coordinated effort between its mission control facilities in the United Kingdom and the ground station supplied to RapidEye in Brandenburg, Germany. A team of three SSTL operators and three support staff will work with the MDA and RapidEye teams in Brandenburg, with the UK team analyzing data as it is received and on standby to react to any technical challenges, according to the company.
"The simultaneous launch of five satellites is not without its challenges," said Ben Stocker, project manager. "The five satellites will gradually disperse from each other following separation from the launch vehicle, allowing three satellites to be tracked and operated from Brandenburg with the remainder under the control of the Guildford operators. This method of operation offers the most efficient route to achieving the maximum amount of contact time per satellite during the early days of commissioning following launch. As the satellites are gradually maneuvered into position around the orbit during the commissioning phase, the Brandenburg ground station will assume full control over the constellation."
Eventually mission operators plan to place the the five satellites in their common sun-synchronous orbit at 630 km. The constellation will image any area in the world at all latitudes between plus or minus 75 degrees within one day and cover the entire agricultural areas of North America and Europe within an average of five days. The multi-spectral push broom style imager onboard each spacecraft will image the Earth in five spectral bands, scanning a 78 km swath at 6.5 m resolution, according to RapidEye.
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