UK satellites launched

摘要

UK-made Earth observation satellites NovaSAR-1 and S1-4 have successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India.The satellites were launched on board a PSLV(polar satellite launch vehicle) rocket on 16 September.NovaSAR-1 is the first synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft to be built entirely in the UK and is the first of its type to occupy an orbit which crosses the equator at 1030 local time, which improves the diversity of radar operations. Capable of seeing through clouds and imagingthe Earth night and day, SAR is often used for tracking ocean-going vessels, and this will be an important application for NovaSAR-1, which has been designed with a specific maritime mode of operation, monitoring a swathe of the earth's surface 400km wide.