| Canadian
Satellite to Study
Ozone, Climate Change
Yahoo- News
Posted August 20, 2003
 By
Patrick White
MONTREAL (Reuters) - The Canadian Space Agency has launched
a brand new satellite to help scientists study ozone depletion
in the atmosphere, marking the first launch of a small Canadian-built
satellite in three decades, officials said on Wednesday.
During its mission, the C$60 million ($43 million) satellite
will gather data to evaluate the impact of climate changes
and of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on the ozone layer, which
protects the Earth from the Sun's ultraviolet rays.
Magellan Aerospace Corp., the prime contractor for the mission,
said the small SCISAT satellite was successfully launched
into orbit by NASA on last Tuesday evening.
"This is a milestone because this is the first small
Canadian-built satellite launched in 30 years," said
Bill Matthews, Magellan's vice-president of marketing.
The satellite was packed in the nose of a rocket dropped
from an aircraft at 12,200 meters (40,000 feet) over the Pacific
Ocean.
Magellan, one of several industrial and energy firms in which
Calgary financier Murray Edwards is a large shareholder, said
the mission will last at least two years.
The 150 kg (330 lb) satellite is powered by a solar panel
and travels in orbit at 650 km (406 miles) above the Earth
as it focuses on climate changes over Canada and the Arctic.
"Scientists are concerned about ozone depletion in the
Canadian Arctic, where significant ozone losses of up to 45
percent have been observed during the late 1990s," the
Canadian Space Agency said in a release.
Much of ozone depletion has been blamed on the use of CFCs,
chemical compounds that were commonly found in aerosols and
refrigerants. CFCs are now banned in industrialized nations
and will be phased out of production in developing countries
by 2010.
At the opposite pole, the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica
has grown in extent every year since 1979 and has now reached
record proportions. It covered nearly 25 million square kilometers
(9.7 million square miles) with depletions of up to 70 percent.
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