Alouette
 |
Alouette 1
|
Canadian satellites designed to observe Earth's ionosphere
and magnetosphere. "Alouette" is French
for "lark".
With the launch of Alouette 1, Canada became the third nation to have a
satellite placed in Earth orbit, after the Soviet Union and the United States.
Alouette 2 took part in a double launch with Explorer
31 and was placed in a similar orbit so that results from the two could
be correlated. Alouette 2 was also the first mission in the ISIS
(International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies) program conducted jointly
by NASA and the Canadian Defense Research Board. Both Alouettes had a mass
of 145 kg and were launched by Thor-Agena B
rockets from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
| spacecraft |
launch date |
orbit |
| Alouette 1 |
Sep. 29, 1962 |
987 × 1,022 km × 80.5° |
| Alouette 2 |
Nov. 29, 1965 |
499 × 2,707 km × 79.8° |
Related categories
• SATELLITES
AND SPACE PROBES • CANADA
IN SPACE
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