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Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

02/02/22 11:20 AM IST

SpaceX launches Italian Earth-observation satellite

In news

SpaceX has finally launched an Italian satellite aboard its Falcon 9 rocket from a station in Florida, US.

Details
  • The rocket carrying the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 (CSG-2) satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
  • CSG is an Italian government system consisting of two satellites that observe Earth using synthetic aperture radar.
  • The first (CSG-1) was launched in December 2019 aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana and is currently operating in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 620km.
  • CSG-2 will also operate in the same orbit.
  • The system, with some improvements, is set to replace the original Cosmo-SkyMed system launched between 2007 and 2010.
Purpose

COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation['s] purpose is to monitor the Earth for the sake of emergency prevention, strategy, scientific and commercial purposes, providing data on a global scale to support a variety of applications among which risk management, cartography, forest and environment protection, natural resources exploration, land management, defense and security, maritime surveillance, food and agriculture management.

SpaceX
  • Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (doing business as SpaceX) is an American aerospace manufacturer, a provider of space transportation services, and a communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California.
  • SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.
  • SpaceX manufactures the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, several rocket engines, Cargo Dragon, crew spacecraft, and Starlink communications satellites.

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