Early Bird

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General

Designation	25123 / 97085A
Launch date	24 Dec 1997
Country of origin	United States
Mission	Remote Sensing
Perigee/Apogee	470 km, sun-synchronous
Inclination	97.3°
Period	revisit time: 2 to 5 days
Launch vehicle	Start 1
Launch site	Svobodny

US satellite operated by Earth Watch Inc. The cost of the system is approx. $200 million. Launch cost is said to be $7 million

Five days after launch the satellite went silent, with no communications. This was the consequence of an electrical problem. Insurers paid $29 million for the loss.

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External resources

http://www.terraserver.com/

sat-index articles

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End of life

Decay

27 Jul 2000

Technical data

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Specifications

Prime contractor	CTA Space Systems
Platform
Mass at launch	317 kg
Payload mass
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power
Design lifetime	5 years

On-board data storage: 2 GByte
Gimbaled-mirror pointing system for ± 30° in-track and ± 28° side-to-side pointing capability

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Panchromatic Sensor

Wavebands	445-650 nm
Swath width	280 km
Resolution	3 m, image size: 3 km x 3 km

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Multispectral Sensor

Wavebands	Green: 490-600 nm Red: 615-670 nm Near IR: 790-875 nm
Swath width	280 km
Resolution	15 m, image size: 15 km x 15 km

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