"World Premiere" of a RapidEye Satellite Image The first public release of a RapidEye image is being unveiled today on the companys website. This demonstration image highlights the capabilities of RapidEye imagery in many market segments, by showing diverse landscapes that include agricultural fields, forests, cities and roads.
On 29 August 2008 at 09:15 CEST (13:15 local time) the RapidEye satellite fleet launched successfully on a DNEPR-1 launch vehicle from Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. The five identical Earth observation satellites provide data from space for commercial use. The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) has supported the German company RapidEye AG, based in Brandenburg, at a level of 15 million euros.
A Kosmotras Dnepr rocket is ready to launch the 5-satellite RapidEye constellation from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on August 29, 2008, at 07:15 UT (08:15 BST).
The commercial RapidEye remote sensing satellites will provide 6.5metre resolution imagery between latitudes ±75 degrees, for agriculture monitoring and disaster relief. The satellite constellation will be placed into a common sun-synchronous orbit of 630 km, with the satellites orbiting about 19 minutes apart.