A Rare Inside Look at the Integration of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission

This fall Canada will launch three identical large Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission. At the moment they are being integrated at MDA’s Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue facility on the island of Montreal.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) worked with MDA to provide the public an inside, and rare look, at the integration of the satellites as part of the CSA’s Ask an Expert series.

According to the CSA “the three-satellite configuration will provide daily revisits of Canada’s vast territory and maritime approaches, as well as daily access to 90% of the world’s surface.”

The RADATSAT Constellation Mission is being designed for three primariy uses:

Maritime surveillance (ice, surface wind, oil pollution and ship monitoring);
Disaster management (mitigation, warning, response and recovery); and
Ecosystem monitoring (agriculture, wetlands, forestry and coastal change monitoring).

The RADARSAT Constellation Mission Space Segment will consist of a constellation of three identical satellites flying in low-Earth orbit (586 km to 615 km above the Earth). Each of the satellites in the constellation will be made up of a bus and a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload. There is also a secondary payload—an automated identification system (AIS) for ships—that will be used independently or in conjunction with the SAR. Credit: Canadian Space Agency.

Watch the Ask an Expert segment

The Ask an Expert event was hosted by CSA engineer Magdalena Wierus with MDA engineer Jean-Michel Lévesque providing insights and answers to viewer questions.