RADARSAT-1 was Canada's first commercial Earth observation satellite. It utilized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to obtain images of the Earth's surface to manage natural resources and monitor global climate change. As of March 2013, the satellite was declared non-operational and is no longer collecting data.

Mission

RADARSAT-1 was launched at 14:22 UTC on 4 November 1995, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, into a Sun-synchronous orbit (dawn-dusk) above the Earth with an altitude of and inclination of 98.60°.

NASA provided the Delta II launch vehicle to launch RADARSAT-1 and access to the NASA Deep Space Network (NASA DSN) in exchange for access to its data. Estimates are that the project, excluding launch, cost CA$620 million. The Canadian federal government contributed about CA$500 million, the four participating provinces (Québec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia) about CA$57 million, and the private sector about CA$63 million.

RADARSAT International, Inc. (RSI), a Canadian private company, was created in 1989 to process, market and distribute RADARSAT-1 data. (RADARSAT International, Inc. (RSI) was later acquired by MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.) In 2006, RSI was rebranded MDA Geospatial Services International or MDA GSI.

Payload

RADARSAT-1 used a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor was designed under the leadership of Dr. Peter Wood and built by Canadian Astronautics Limited (CAL) in Ottawa, to image the Earth at a single microwave frequency of 5.3 GHz, in the C band (wavelength of 5.6 cm). It outlived its planned five-year lifetime by a wide margin. Radarsat-2 was launched on 14 December 2007 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan

RADARSAT-1 covered the Arctic daily, and most of Canada every 72 hours depending on instrument orientation and mode. It covered the entire Earth every 24 days.

On 29 March 2013, RADARSAT-1 experienced a technical problem. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) assembled a team of engineers, who conducted an extensive investigation. Following numerous attempts to resolve the problem, the CSA, in consultation with its commercial data distributor MDA Geospatial Services Inc. concluded that RADARSAT-1 was no longer operational.

See also

  • RADARSAT-2
  • RADARSAT Constellation

References

  • RADARSAT-1 from the CSA