The SAOCOM 1A and 1B satellites provide high-resolution, quadripolar L-band imagery.
The SAOCOM constellation consists of the SAOCOM 1A and SAOCOM 1B L-band radar satellites.
The SAOCOM 1A and 1B satellites operate with Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed constellation under the Italian-Argentine Satellite System for Emergency Management (SIASGE).
SAOCOM 1A and SAOCOM 1B provide day-and-night observation capabilities in all weather conditions.
Asterra sources synthetic aperture radar data from Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) and the Saocom 1A and 1B radar spacecraft that Argentina operates jointly with Italy.
SAOCOM 1A was launched in 2018 and SAOCOM 1B was launched in 2020 from the United States on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that injected them into orbit.
Asterra gathers data from Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 and from Saocom 1A and 1B radar satellites built by Argentina’s space agency and operated jointly with the Italian Cosmo-SkyMed constellation.
SpaceX launched the first Saocom satellite, Saocom-1A, into a polar orbit from Vandenberg in October 2018 on a Falcon 9.
A previous Falcon 9 launched the SAOCOM 1A satellite into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in October 2018.
The Falcon 9 booster used on 2019-11-11 previously launched 10 Iridium Next satellites in 2018-07-01, CONAE’s Saocom-1A in 2018-10-01, and PSN’s Nusantara Satu in 2019-02-01.
INVAP built the Saocom-1A synthetic aperture radar satellite and developed the yet-to-launch Satcom-1B SAR satellite for the Argentine space agency CONAE.
The Saocom-1A launch was originally scheduled to occur from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean where SpaceX launched the now-retired Falcon 1.
Saocom-1A is a 3,000-kilogram synthetic aperture radar satellite for the Argentine space agency CONAE.
SpaceX used the same first stage for the Saocom-1A mission that launched 10 satellites for Iridium about 10.5 weeks earlier from Vandenberg.
CONAE contracted Saocom-1A in 2009 with an initial planned launch in 2012 that subsequently slipped.
CONAE will operate Saocom-1A as part of the Argentine-Italian System of Satellites with the Italian Space Agency and will coordinate observations with Italy’s four Cosmo-SkyMed X-band SAR satellites.
SpaceX launched the Argentine radar satellite Saocom-1A into low-Earth orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket.