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Radarsat 1

Radarsat 1 [Ball]

Radarsat 1, a Canadian-led international program and a major part of the overall Canadian Space Agency (CSA) program, is Canada's first remote-sensing satellite.

Since its 4 November 1995 launch into an 832-km sun-synchronous, dawn/dusk orbit, Radarsat has been delivering C-Band SAR imagery to the CSA and numerous commercial customers worldwide. The images are used for locating and identifying ice in the Arctic Ocean to aid in navigation; monitoring offshore oil and gas explosions and oil slicks; and acquiring remote sensing data for the management of agriculture and updating the Canadian geological map.

Ball Aerospace supported Spar Aerospace Limited, the prime contractor, by providing the spacecraft bus and assisting in the development of the mission ground station software and operations planning.

Radarsat 1 was disabled by an technological anomaly on 29 March 2013, which ended the mission after more than 17 years.

Nation: Canada
Type / Application: Earth observation (Radar)
Operator: CSA
Contractors: Spar Aerospace (Prime), Ball Aerospace (Bus)
Equipment: C-Band SAR
Configuration: BCP-4000
Propulsion: ?
Power: 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries
Lifetime: 5 years (planned); 17 years (achieved)
Mass: 2750 kg
Orbit: 783 km × 787 km, 98.6°
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
Radarsat 1 1995-059A 04.11.1995 Va SLC-2W Delta-7920-10 with Surfsat 1

References:

  • Ball Aerospace Website
Further Radarsat missions:

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