Today, Sunday November 21st, 2010, one of the icons of Argentine space technology, the SAC-C Satellite for Science Applications, celebrates its 10th year in orbit. Thus, the satellite long surpassed its original expected lifetime of 4 years.
SAC-C is a satellite platform intended for basic and applied research, designed and built by INVAP for the Argentine Space Agency (CONAE) and launched in 2000 from Vandenberg, California. The purpose of the mission is to obtain information useful for agricultural, industrial, governmental and scientific applications.
Together with INVAP, which was CONAE’s main contractor, the mission was accomplished in collaboration with the Space agencies of USA, Italy, Brazil, France and Denmark. SAC-C is a clear example of the collaborative character of this kind of mission, in which INVAP articulates its work with other nations.
After almost twenty years of continuous work in the satellite area, this anniversary is particularly significant for INVAP, since Science and Technology activities have nowadays regained the relevant position they once had in our country.
