The “upper composite” is mated with Soyuz’ third stage for the milestone 20th mission of Starsem

December 10, 2007

Canada’s RADARSAT-2 satellite and its Fregat upper stage have been mated with the Soyuz launcher’s upper stage as preparations enter their final phase for this Friday’s liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The payload fairing containing RADARSAT-2 and Fregat were joined using the traditional Russian horizontal integration process.  All is now ready for the final launch vehicle integration in preparation for this 20th commercial mission performed by Starsem.

Liftoff of the Soyuz launcher is set for December 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome’s launch pad #6 at 7:17 p.m. local time (4:17 p.m. in Moscow, 2:17 p.m. in Paris, and 8:17 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in North America).

After reaching its Sun-synchronous orbit, RADARSAT-2 will perform marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping in Canada and around the world.  This 2,200-kg. platform is the second RADARSAT spacecraft, and incorporates numerous improvements from RADARSAT-1, enabling 3-meter high resolution imaging, superior data storage and more precise measurements of spacecraft position and attitude.

 

See the other Feature stories on Starsem's RADARSAT-2 launch: Soyuz soars to success with RADARSAT-2 (December 14, 2007) Soyuz moves to the launch pad with RADARSAT-2 (December 13, 2007) RADARSAT-2 is integrated with the Fregat upper stage (December 7, 2007) RADARSAT-2 launch campaign on track for the December 14 liftoff (December 5, 2007) RADARSAT-2 launch campaign starts at Baikonur Cosmodrome (November 16, 2007) Read our press release about this successful mission. For additional information on the RADARSAT-2 mission, read the Launch Kit.