Monday, September 01, 2008

MicrospaceNews: RapidEye fleet is in space

The five small satellites constituting the RapidEye remote sensing fleet (see earlier post) are in orbit. The launch on a converted ballistic missile, the Dneper, RapidEye does not use the polar orbit favored by remote sensing birds. Instead, it's in a high inclination which ensures coverage of the Earth from 75 degreed N to 75 S. The five satellites, orbiting at 630km, will allow daily coverage of any point in that zone. Each satellite weighs about 150kg.

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