RADARSAT-2

Infobox Spacecraft
Organisation=MacDonald Dettwiler
Carrier_Rocket=Soyuz-FG/Fregat
Mission_Type =Earth observation
Launch = 14 December 2007
Orbit_regime=SSO RADARSAT-2 is an Earth observation satellite that was successfully launched December 14 2007 [cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/12/14/tech-radarsat-liftoff.html|title=Soyuz rocket lifts Canadian radar satellite into space|accessdate=2007-12-14] [cite web|url=http://www.mdacorporation.com/news/pr/pr2007121401.shtml|title=RADARSAT-2 has been successfully launched|accessdate=2007-12-14] [cite web|url=http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/media/news_releases/2007/1214.asp|title=Successful launch of RADARSAT-2|accessdate=2007-12-14] for the Canadian Space Agency by Starsem, using a Soyuz FG launch vehicle, from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. RADARSAT-2 was previously tested at the David Florida Laboratory near Ottawa, Ontario before the start of its launch campaign.

The end of the spacecraft and ground segment commissioning period was declared on April 27th, 2008 after which routine commercial operation started.

The Satellite has a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with multiple polarization modes. Its highest resolution will be 3 m in Ultra Fine mode and 1 meter in Spotlight mode with 100 m positional accuracy. Its left looking capability allow the spacecraft the unique capability to image the Antarctic on a routine basis providing data in support of scientific research.

The prime contractor on the project is MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), who have previously built projects such as the Canadarm. Other collaborating companies include EMS Technologies and Alenia. EMS Technologies Space & Technology/Montreal division was bought by MDA in 2005. RADARSAT-2 is owned and operated by MDA.

RADARSAT-2 is a follow-on to RADARSAT-1. It has the same orbit (798 km altitude sun-synchronous orbit with 6 p.m. ascending node and 6 a.m. descending node). RADARSAT-2 is separated by half an orbit period (~50 min) from RADARSAT-1 (in terms of ground track it would represent ~12 days ground track separation). It is filling a wide variety of roles, including sea ice mapping and ship routing, iceberg detection, agricultural crop monitoring, marine surveillance for ship and pollution detection, terrestrial defence surveillance and target identification, geological mapping, land use mapping, wetlands mapping, topographic mapping.

See also

* RADARSAT Constellation

External links

* [http://www.radarsat2.info/ RADARSAT-2 Official Website]
* [http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/satellites/radarsat2/applications.asp RADARSAT-2 Applications]
* [http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/events/2006/radarsat2.asp RADARSAT-2 Symposium]

* [http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/satellites/radarsat2/ Canadian Space Agency Website]
* [http://www.mdacorporation.com MDA Website]

References