Russians launch five German RapidEye satellites

William Atkins
Friday, 29 August 2008 23:12

Science - Space

In the case of this mission, the RapidEye satellites will collect images for Germany in the areas of agriculture (with respect to growth monitoring, damage assessment, and crop yield), forestry (tree species separation), disaster management (along with security), and energy/infrastructure (pipeline management).

The satellites will also be used to make three-dimensional maps.

The commercial multispectral RapidEye system, developed by German company RapidEye AG, consist of five 330-pound (150-kilogram) Earth-observation satellites.

Each satellite contains a camera with a pixel-size resolution of 6.5 meters, within five optical bands in the 400-to-850 nanometer range.

The satellites are expected to have an operational life of at least seven years.

Additional information about RapidEye is found at the GEO Informatics website "RapidEye AG ready to send its Constellation of Five Satellites into Orbit."