On Sept. 28, 1962, Canada launched its first satellite, Alouette 1. This made Canada the third country to build and launch its own satellite after the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Alouette 1 was designed to study Earth’s ionosphere, which is a region in the upper atmosphere that is ionized by solar and cosmic radiation.
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The mission lasted 10 years before the satellite was decommissioned, but the derelict satellite is still orbiting the Earth.
