Capabilities of Canada's planned RADARSAT Constellation

The CSA has initiated a feasibility study for a constellation of low-cost small SAR satellites to ensure C-band data continuity beyond RADARSAT-2. The concept involves three satellites with an option of flying up to six satellites. This is to provide operationally SAR imagery for key maritime surveillance applications such as ship detection, oil spill monitoring, and sea ice mapping. Other applications focus on disaster management and SAR interferometry (InSAR) coherent change detection of land surfaces for geohazards, climate change, and environment monitoring. This paper describes the applications requirements and provides an overview of the mission concept with a special focus on the imaging capabilities of the planned RADARSAT constellation.