RADARSAT-I system commissioning and beyond

Canada's first Earth observation satellite, RADARSAT-I was launched in a polar, sun-synchronous, dawn-dusk orbit by a Delta II rocket on November 4, 1995. The satellite carries a multi-mode C-band, HH polarization synthetic aperture radar (SAR) which provides choices in incidence angles (from less than 20/spl deg/ to more than 50/spl deg/), resolutions (from 10 m to 100 m), and swath widths (from 45 km to 500 km). The satellite is programmed and commanded through a S-band link from the Control Centre at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in St. Hubert, Quebec to acquire the SAR data in the required mode as per user requests and to dump at X-band the corresponding data to ground receiving stations. The satellite has global acquisition capability through the on-board tape recorders. User requests for new acquisitions or processing archived SAR data are entered into the RADARSAT system through order desks. The corresponding data or products are delivered to users by data processing facilities. The system has been commissioned through months of on-orbit testing of the satellite along with operational demonstrations. The operation phase began on 1 April 1996 and should last for 5 years, the designed lifetime of the satellite. During this phase, RADARSAT data will be supplied to users around the world for a variety of applications and the satellite will be turned from right looking to left looking orientation twice to map the Antarctic. An overview of the RADARSAT-I system and operation is presented along with examples of the imagery.