Argentina - An Argentine satellite for the NASA

• VER_GALERIA

Argentina´s new satellite mission is called SAC-D and is in the final stretch leading up to its orbit. In charge of the company INVAP argentina and the National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE), and by the express request of NASA, the SAC-D will weigh 1405 kg. and will carry sophisticated instruments, including especially the Aquarius, which will study the ocean and atmosphere, but also has the ability to generate early warnings of fires and floods.

His tentative date for launch is the 22 May 2010 from the Vandenberg base in the United States and the total cost is about $ 175 million INVAP has extensive experience in the development of nuclear and satellite projects, but the first satellite to be built very large and nothing less than to NASA.

The development of the project was under review and scrutiny to ensure its seamless construction. Participating in meetings of the responsible NASA CONAE, companies and academia.

The SAC-D / will carry eight. The largest is the Aquarius, a device provided by NASA, which will measure the salinity of the sea and will assess its relevance to climate change.

The Italian Space Agency contributes ROSA, extracting atmospheric profiles using GPS occultation technique. His French Carmen plus 1, to analyze the effect of cosmic radiation on electronic components, or micro micrometeoros (space junk).

Conae builds other five instruments: a microwave radiometer, in which the Argentine Institute for Radio Astronomy (IAR) and the Faculty of Engineering, University of La Plata (UNLP), a scanning camera in the infrared (in collaboration with Canada), a high sensitivity camera for night observation and applications in studying atmospheric phenomena and solar panels to provide energy and a technology demonstration that will be used in future to determine orbit position and velocity angle of the satellite.

Until its launch, the instruments and the satellite are subjected to as stringent as those in the space at the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil.

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