Third German spy satellite launched into Space

Paris: The third of five planned German high-resolution SAR-Lupe radar reconnaissance satellites was successfully launched Nov. 1 by a Russian Cosmos-3M rocket. It has now begun an expected four weeks of testing before being transferred to the German armed forces.

According to SAR-Lupe prime contractor, OHB-System AG, the 1,587-pound (720-kilogram) satellite, capable of detecting ground objects of less than three feet (one meter) in diameter, will join its two identical predecessors in a near-polar, 310-mile (500-kilometer) orbit. The first two SAR-Lupe spacecraft were launched in December 2006 and July 2007, and according to German defence officials, are performing to specifications.

The two remaining SAR-Lupe spacecraft are scheduled to launch at four- or five-month intervals, and the full five-satellite network is expected to be operational by late 2008.

By late 2009, SAR-Lupe is expected to be available to French defence forces as part of a bilateral exchange that will give the German military access to France''s Helios-2 high-resolution optical reconnaissance satellites.

The Cosmos-3M rocket launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia and placed the SAR-Lupe satellite into orbit about 30 minutes after lift off. A French government-owned ground station at Kerguelen Island in the Indian Ocean picked up the first signals.