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Feature story

Soyuz orbits RADARSAT-2 for Canada on Starsem’s 20th mission success

December 14, 2007

The third mission for Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate in 2007 successfully orbited the Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellite today, confirming the role of Russia’s workhorse Soyuz in the commercial launch services marketplace.

Lifting off right on time at 7:17 p.m. local time (2:17 p.m. in Paris and 8:17 a.m. U.S. East Coast time), the Soyuz climbed into clear skies over Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, and deployed RADARSAT-2 into Sun-synchronous orbit 53 minutes later.  

“Today, we are happy to have successfully launched the RADARSAT-2 Soyuz, which also, in fact, marks the 20th Soyuz flight performed under Starsem's responsibility,” said Jean-Yves Le Gall, the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Starsem and Arianespace.  “This success was made possible thanks to the reliable Soyuz launch vehicle, whose flawless performance enabled today’s launch.  Once again, together, we have demonstrated that the Soyuz is an extremely reliable launch vehicle and definitely a very, very strong partner of the satellite operators!”

The medium-lift Soyuz is a member of Arianespace’s expanding launcher family, and it will join its heavy-lift Ariane 5 in operations from Europe’s Spaceport beginning in 2009.

RADARSAT-2 is a commercial C-band synthetic aperture radar satellite, and its missions include marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping in Canada and around the world.  The 2,200-kg. spacecraft is a follow-on to the RADARSAT-1 platform, which was launched in 1995.

Development of RADARSAT-2 was handled in a unique government/industry collaboration involving the Canadian Space Agency and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA).  MDA is to operate the satellite and ground segment, while the Canadian Space Agency contributed funds for RADARSAT-2’s construction and launch.