MDA is designing the follow-on to Radarsat-2, the C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite.
Radarsat-2 provides more than 75,000 images per year.
Each Radarsat Constellation Mission satellite weighs 1,430 kg.
Radarsat-2 offers coverage from 144 to 265,000 square kilometers per scene and has 20 imaging modes.
Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously supported seven other missions: the SXM-7 mission in December 2020, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission launch in June 2019, Crew Dragon’s first demonstration mission in March 2019, and four Starlink missions.
The first stage used for the SXM-7 launch was flying for the seventh time and had previously launched the Demo-1 commercial crew test flight, the Radarsat Constellation Mission, and four sets of Starlink satellites.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster used on the SXM-7 mission previously supported the RADARSAT Constellation Mission.
A Falcon 9 launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean science satellite on 2020-11-21 was the first orbital launch from Vandenberg since a Falcon 9 launched the Radarsat Constellation Mission for Canada in 2019-06-01.
The Falcon 9 first stage launched the three Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites in June 2019.
Brazilian agencies obtained imagery of the dam collapse from Radarsat-2, a satellite owned and operated by MDA, a Maxar Technologies company.
Each Radarsat Constellation Mission satellite weighs 1,430 kg and will be spaced evenly in the same 600-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit.
The Radarsat Constellation Mission constellation is designed to increase revisit times compared with a single satellite.
MDA, the Canadian subsidiary of Maxar Technologies, built the three Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites for the Canadian government.
The rocket’s upper stage deployed the three-satellite Radarsat Constellation Mission about an hour after liftoff.
The Radarsat Constellation Mission satellites’ C-band radars can produce synthetic aperture radar imagery with resolutions as sharp as three meters.
The Radarsat Constellation Mission system will be able to view 90 percent of the Earth’s surface every 24 hours with enhanced coverage of Arctic regions.
The Canadian government expects to spend C$1,200,000,000 (US$900,000,000) on the Radarsat Constellation Mission including construction of the three satellites, their launch, and operations over a projected seven-year lifetime.
Radarsat-2 was launched in December 2007 and remains in service despite being far beyond its seven-year design life.
The Canadian Space Agency has started planning the next generation of Radarsat for when Radarsat Constellation Mission reaches its planned end of life in 2026.
MDA, a Maxar company, completed construction of the three-satellite Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) for the Canadian Space Agency in 2018.