RADARSAT-2 is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Earth observation satellite. It launched on 14 December 2007 aboard a Starsem Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Data may be acquired in any combination of horizontal and vertical polarizations (HH, HV, VV, VH). Resolution and swath width depends on the operation mode; the resolution range is 1 to 100 metres, and the swath width ranges from 18 to 500 kilometres.

The payload module was built by EMS Technologies, with the phased array SAR antenna being built by EMS Montreal. The spacecraft bus was built by Alenia Aerospazio (Italy). The Extensible Support Structure was built by Able Engineering (United States). The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) would receive and archive the satellite's data. The launch was expected to occur around 2001.

The CSA intended to launch RADARSAT-2 with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in exchange for data sharing. and initially added costs, although the Starsem option ultimately reduced project costs. The US intelligence agencies opposed the Boeing launch on national security grounds. and launched on 14 December 2007.

By mid-August 2015, the addition of the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation (CCMEO, formerly CCRS) X Band receiving station in Inuvik has significantly increased RADARSAT-2 downlink capacity in Canada.

The network of ground receiving station continues to expand with 19 partners organization using 53 antennas at various reception sites (as of Jun 2020).

As of 2025, RADARSAT-2 has been in service more than 17 years. Numerous enhancements have been added to the original capabilities both on the ground and on the space segments. The operational performance is well within the specification with an acquisition success rate above 97% (Acquisition successfully executed Vs Acquisition loaded on the Spacecraft for execution) and a percentage of availability of 99.95% (hours of outage Vs total hours in a year). The usage of SAR data have been steadily growing from an average of 3.5 minutes per orbit in 2008 to an average of 11.57 minutes per orbit in 2019.

On July 15, 2020, MDA has provided the full extent of the original Government of Canada data allocation in exchange for the government's financial contribution to the building of the satellite. The Government of Canada remains an important user of RADARSAT-2 data.

See also

  • RADARSAT Constellation

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Canada from Space
  • RADARSAT-2 official site
  • RADARSAT-2 applications
  • RADARSAT-2 symposium
  • Canadian Space Agency website
  • MDA website