Successful launch of third German SAR-Lupe.

The third SAR-Lupe satellite, providing high-resolution images to the German Ministry of Defence, was boosted into orbit from the Plesetsk space centre by a Russian Cosmos-3M rocket on 1 November.

The SAR-Lupe programme comprises a constellation of five identical small satellites (720 kg-250 W) which will be positioned into 3 quasi polar orbital planes at 500km altitude, and a ground segment. With two fully functional satellites, the system formally entered its 10-year operating period on 3 December.

The contract for construction and launch of the five satellites was awarded in 2001 to a consortium of 13 European companies led by OHB-System AG as prime contractor. The first SAR-Lupe satellite was launched on December 19, 2006 and the second one on July 3, 2007. They are both supplying high-resolution images and operating very successfully and reliably. Two more SAR-Lupe spacecraft are scheduled for launch at intervals of four to six months until the constellation is completed in 2008.

The satellites' SAR radar system can be used to obtain images under any weather or light conditions (day or night). The system will supply up-to-date, high-definition images of virtually any region in the world. It will provide images in X-band and offer a spatial resolution of less than 1 metre. It may operate in "spot light" mode to improve the spatial resolution.

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The ground segments for SAR-Lupe and the French Helios II systems will be inter-connected, so that each country can use the other's satellite and receive imagery.