@M_Labrecque
RADARSAT-1 Solar Array Structural Model
SPAR Aerospace Limited
Brampton, Ontario
ca. 1990’s
Source: Canadian Space Agency, David Florida Laboratory, Ottawa, ON
Built by SPAR Aerospace Ltd. in the early 1990’s, this artifact is a full scale engineering model of a solar array belonging to the Radarsat-1 satellite. The array represents one complete wing of the spacecraft and consists of five panels attached to one another by hinges, springs, and a deployment mechanism.
While solar panels convert sunlight to electricity, the function of this model was to test the solar array’s deployment mechanism prior to launch. Notable for being the first deployable solar array developed in Canada, the device was tested at the David Florida Laboratory, a spacecraft assembly, integration and testing facility.
Radarsat-1, Canada’s first remote sensing satellite was designed to provide imagery of Earth’s surface to be used in areas such as disaster management, agriculture, cartography, forestry, ice studies and coastal monitoring. Developed by the Canadian Space Agency and about 100 Canadian and international organizations, it was launched from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California in November 1995.
Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation
Photo credit: CSTMC
RADARSAT-1 Solar Array Structural Model
SPAR Aerospace Limited
Brampton, Ontario
ca. 1990’s
Source: Canadian Space Agency, David Florida Laboratory, Ottawa, ON
Built by SPAR Aerospace Ltd. in the early 1990’s, this artifact is a full scale engineering model of a solar array belonging to the Radarsat-1 satellite. The array represents one complete wing of the spacecraft and consists of five panels attached to one another by hinges, springs, and a deployment mechanism.
While solar panels convert sunlight to electricity, the function of this model was to test the solar array’s deployment mechanism prior to launch. Notable for being the first deployable solar array developed in Canada, the device was tested at the David Florida Laboratory, a spacecraft assembly, integration and testing facility.
Radarsat-1, Canada’s first remote sensing satellite was designed to provide imagery of Earth’s surface to be used in areas such as disaster management, agriculture, cartography, forestry, ice studies and coastal monitoring. Developed by the Canadian Space Agency and about 100 Canadian and international organizations, it was launched from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California in November 1995.
Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation
Photo credit: CSTMC