Transporting the RADARSAT Constellation Mission to the Launch Site is Not as Easy as You Might Think

In October of 2018 MDA shipped the final spacecraft of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission to California. Credit: MDA/Maxar.

The RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) satellites were packed up and transported from Montreal to Palo Alto, California in preparation for their launch. They travelled the 4,800 km journey by way of a custom modified trailer owned by International Machine Transport (IMT), specialists in transporting these kinds of cargo.

You would think that once in their shipping container it would be straightforward to ship the satellites to their destination. Well, that’s not the case. There are many factors to take into consideration such as humidity and temperature inside the shipping container. IMT documented the journey of one of the satellites in the following video.

The RCM mission is scheduled to launch on June 11 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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