CE-SAT 1B

It seems that Canon’s CE-SAT-1B camera satellite was not meant to be. The BBC reports that Electron, the rocket launched by American company Rocket Lab, failed in its late ascent and that all satellite payloads are “assumed to have been destroyed” which includes Canon’s new imaging satellite

The CE-SAT-1B satellite was the one we told you about a couple of weeks ago that, for some reason, was loaded with a Canon 5D Mark III and a PowerShot S110. It was a small satellite, measuring only 50x50x70cm, but would offer a 1-metre ground resolution view of the earth’s surface from 600km above its surface.

Canon is launching a satellite. It’s the CE-SAT 1B (Canon Electric Satellite 1B). It’s an experimental Earth observing microsatellite developed and built by Canon Electronics. The satellite is quite small, measuring only 50x50x70cm and it’s based on the Hodoyoshi-1 satellite, launched in 2014.

Canon sent the original CE-SAT 1 into space in 2017, so the idea is nothing new, but this time we’re hearing about the cameras that are going to be included on the satellite. And strangely, it’s the Canon 5D Mark III and (even more strangely) the Canon PowerShot S110. It seems like an odd combination when Canon’s about to make a big splash with the EOS R5.