Satellite and launch vehicle preparations are continuing on schedule at Baikonur Cosmodrome for the December 14 liftoff of RADARSAT-2 – Canada’s next-generation commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, which will be orbited aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle operated by Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate.

RADARSAT-2 has been installed on the adapter that serves as its interface with the launcher, and the spacecraft has undergone pre-launch electrical testing. This activity occurred in clean room conditions at Starsem’s Upper Composite Integration Facility at Baikonur Cosmodrome.

In parallel, the Soyuz launcher’s Fregat upper stage completed its pneumatic tests, and has been loaded with the propellant that will be used in delivering RADARSAT-2 to its sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 800 kilometers. It was transferred to Starsem’s Upper Composite Integration Facility on December 3 as planned.

The launch of RADARSAT-2 is set for December 14, 2007, at 7:17 p.m.(local time at Baikonur Cosmodrome, 2:17 p.m. in Paris) on the 20th commercial Soyuz mission managed by Starsem.

RADARSAT-2 is the follow-on to Canada’s highly successful RADARSAT-1 platform, which was launched in 1995. Missions to be performed by this commercial C-band synthetic aperture radar satellite include marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping in Canada and around the world.

The RADARSAT-2 spacecraft was developed in a unique government/industry collaboration involving the Canadian Space Agency and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA). MDA is to operate the satellite and ground segment, while the Canadian Space Agency contributed funds for RADARSAT-2’s construction and launch.

RADARSAT-2 incorporates technical advancements that include 3-meter high-resolution imaging, flexibility in selection of its scanning polarization, left and right-looking imaging options, superior data storage and more precise measurements of spacecraft position and attitude.

The workhorse Soyuz is a member of Arianespace’s growing family of commercial launch vehicles. This medium-lift launcher will be joining Ariane 5 in operations from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana beginning in 2009.