UK-DMC 2 is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Earth imaging satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

 which is operated by DMC International Imaging

DMC International Imaging

DMC International Imaging is the company that manages the Disaster Monitoring Constellation for the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters. It also sells satellite imaging services under contract. DMCII is a wholly owned subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd...

. It was constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology, based on the SSTL-100 satellite bus

Satellite bus

A satellite bus or spacecraft bus is the general model on which multiple-production satellite spacecraft are often based. The bus is the infrastructure of a spacecraft, usually providing locations for the payload .They are most commonly used for geosynchronous satellites, particularly...

. It is part of Britain's contribution to the Disaster Monitoring Constellation

Disaster Monitoring Constellation

The Disaster Monitoring Constellation consists of a number of remote sensing satellites constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and operated for the Algerian, Nigerian, Turkish, British and Chinese governments by DMC International Imaging...

, which is coordinated by DMC International Imaging

DMC International Imaging

DMC International Imaging is the company that manages the Disaster Monitoring Constellation for the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters. It also sells satellite imaging services under contract. DMCII is a wholly owned subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd...

. It is the successor to the UK-DMC satellite

UK-DMC

The UK-DMC satellite is one of a number of satellites in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation . It was built by Surrey Satellite Technology, who operate it via DMC International Imaging on behalf of the UK Space Agency...

.

UK DMC-2 was launched into a sun-synchronous

Sun-synchronous orbit

A Sun-synchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit which combines altitude and inclination in such a way that an object on that orbit ascends or descends over any given point of the Earth's surface at the same local mean solar time. The surface illumination angle will be nearly the same every time...

 low Earth orbit

Low Earth orbit

A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...

. The launch was conducted by ISC Kosmotras

ISC Kosmotras

The International Space Company Kosmotras or ISC Kosmotras is a joint project, between Russia, Ukraine, and the Kazakhstan, established in 1997. It developed and now operates a commercial expendable launch system using the Dnepr rocket. The Dnepr is a converted Soviet era SS-18 ICBM decommissioned...

, using a Dnepr-1 carrier rocket, with DubaiSat-1

DubaiSat-1

DubaiSat-1 is an Emirati remote sensing satellite which is being operated by the Emirates Institution of Advanced Science and Technology. It was constructed by the Satrec Initiative, based on the SI-200 satellite bus....

 being the primary payload. UK-DMC 2, along with the Deimos-1

Deimos-1

Deimos-1 is a Spanish Earth imaging satellite which is operated by Deimos Imaging. It was constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology, based on the SSTL-100 satellite bus. Deimos Imaging commercializes its imagery directly but also has distribution agreements with other entities like Astrium GEO and...

, Nanosat 1B, AprizeSat-3 and AprizeSat-4 satellites, were the rocket's secondary payload. The launch occurred at 18:46 GMT on 29 July 2009, with the rocket lifting off from Site 109/95

Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 109

Site 109/95 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is a missile silo built for use by the R-36 missile, which has been converted into a launch site for the Dnepr-1 carrier rocket....

 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...

 in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

.

The satellite has a mass of 120 kilograms (264.6 lb) and a design life of five years. It carries a multi-spectral imager with a resolution of 22 metres (72.2 ft) and 660 kilometres (410.1 mi) of swath, operating in green, red and near infrared spectra.

The satellite is also known as Blue Peter

Blue Peter

Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...

 1, and its construction and launch were followed by children's television.

See also

• 2009 in spaceflight
  2009 in spaceflight
  Several significant events in spaceflight occurred in 2009, including Iran conducting its first indigenous orbital launch, the first Swiss satellite being launched and New Zealand launching its first sounding rocket. The H-IIB and Naro-1 rockets conducted maiden flights, whilst the Tsyklon-3,...
  
  
• UK-DMC2 Mission pages from manufacturer SSTL