RADARSAT-1

RADARSAT -1, Canada's first commercial Earth observation satellite. A U.S. Delta II rocket took him on 4 November 1995 into a sun-synchronous orbit at 798 km altitude. The satellite was built by the Canadian company MDA Space Missions. The satellite will be operated by the Canadian Space Agency CSA.

RADARSAT - 1 carries a pivoting SAR sensor, the C-band ( frequency 5.3 GHz, 5.6 cm wavelength ) scans the surface. With high resolution of 10 m it detects an area of ​​50 km ², in the wide- angle mode, it tracks an area of ​​500 km ² with a resolution of 100 m.

The orbital period is 100.7 minutes, he circled the Earth 14 times a day. After 24 days it flies over the same locations on the ground. Due to the wide-angle mode and the pivotability of the antenna it can detect all five days the same locations on the ground, close to the poles even daily.

RADARSAT -1 exceeded its estimated operation time by more than twice; However, on March 29, 2013 There was a defect in which the satellite was placed in a power -saving state. The chances of Radarsat 1 is fully functional again are slim.

On 14 December 2007 the replacement satellite, RADARSAT -2 was launched by a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur. 2018 to three identical satellites will be launched as Radarsat Constellation Mission.

Use

The satellite is in addition to research for the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters.