A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired through a dense shroud of coastal fog and climbed into orbit Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, deploying a trio of radar observation satellites to begin a $900 million mission surveying the Arctic, maritime waters, forests and farmland for the Canadian government.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 10:17:10 a.m. EDT (7:17:10 a.m. PDT; 1417:10 GMT) Wednesday with the Radarsat Constellation Mission for the Canadian government. The Falcon 9’s first stage successfully landed back at Vandenberg around eight minutes later.
The acquisition of DigitalGlobe, the owner of several commercial Earth-viewing spacecraft in orbit, by Canada’s MDA Corp. will combine two of the world’s leading radar and optical observation imaging systems into one globe-spanning network and give Space Systems/Loral a firmer foothold in the market for manufacturing Earth observation satellites, officials said Friday.
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