Sapphire (satellite)

Sapphire is a Canadian military space surveillance satellite. Manufacturer of the satellite, the Canadian company MDA Space Missions. The company was awarded the 65 - million -$ - order from the Department of National Defence ( DND) in 2007. The launch of the satellite on 25 February 2013. The satellite was in an Indian PSLV from spaceport Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota brought orbit.

Mission

The space surveillance satellite has to catalog the task objects that are located at altitudes between 6000 km and 40,000 km in the Earth's orbit, and to observe. With the help of satellites should be detected and averted potential dangerous situations. The satellite is also intended to serve the North American air space surveillance network NORAD. The satellite will be operated from Canada. The data is transmitted to two ground stations in Canada in Saskatoon and St. Hubert as well as in Guildford, England.

Instruments

The satellite weighs about 150 kg, and has a variety of instruments. The main instrument is a 15 cm telescope with a 1.4 ° field of view, with which the satellite space can detect objects at a height between 6000-40000 km.