Envisat

Envisat was launched on 1st March 2002 by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. The main box section measures 26x10x5m and the satellite weighs 8211kg. It is in a polar orbit which means there are regular high altitude passes from anywhere in the world making it ideal for tracking. The orbit is 783x785km which is considerably higher than the ISS or Mir. Despite this greater range it becomes the third object that I have resolved to show detail, after Mir and the ISS.

At this time Envisat was at an approx altitude of 86° and 794km range.

At this range 26m equates to 6.75arcsec. The image scale is 0.18arcsec/pixel so that Envisat should be about 37.5 pixels in size. For more detailed image scale info see Phil's page. In fact it is more like 50 so this must include the extended panel seen in the VRML model image

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