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Building on Success
The RADARSAT-2 program assures data continuity for RADARSAT-1 users. Along with additional beam modes, RADARSAT-2 is designed with RADARSAT-1 compatible beam modes and will follow the same orbit, repeat cycle, and ground track as RADARSAT-1.
Other key features of RADARSAT-2 include the ability to select all beam modes in both left- and right-looking modes allowing more frequent revisits of targets, high downlink power resulting in a lower cost of entry for new ground stations, secure data and telemetry transfers, solid-state recorders, on-board GPS receiver for real-time position knowledge, and the use of a high-precision attitude control system.
The RADARSAT-2 advantage
RADARSAT-2 contains numerous technical enhancements that will assist the ability to generate products of higher quality than RADARSAT-1. These enhancements are not all in the actual images but they will indirectly benefit the resulting applications. The innovations regarding the imaging capabilities are discussed in more details in the section Resolution, Polarization and Imaging.
| Innovation |
What this means for users |
| 3-metre ultra-fine resolution |
- Highest-resolution commercially available SAR
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| Fully polarimetric imaging modes |
- Enhanced capabilities for various applications
|
| Left- and right-looking capability |
- Faster revisit time
- Routine Antarctic mapping available
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GPS receivers onboard Having GPS receivers onboard the satellite will greatly improve RADARSAT-2's known position which will, in turn, permit more accurate analysis of the orbit and subsequently benefiting the applications. |
- ±60-metre real-time position information
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| 10 ms delay between imaging modes |
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| Yaw-steering for zero-doppler shift at beam centre |
- Decreased image processing time
- Improved image quality
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Star-Trackers onboard RADARSAT-2 satellite stability should be easy to maintain through the addition of Star Trackers, which provide reliable positioning information. RADARSAT-1 relied on several techniques such as sun sensors, magnetometers, and horizon scanners that are deemed less accurate and subject to seasonal eclipse outages. |
- Easier to maintain satellite stability
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Higher power data downlink The higher power of the RADARSAT-2 downlink will permit the size of the ground station antenna to be substantially smaller and subsequently more affordable. The standard RADARSAT-1 antenna is approximately 10 metres in diameter; this can be reduced to 3 metres for RADARSAT-2. This will allow the use of portable ground stations. |
- 3-metre minimum size antenna on ground allowing station portability
- Lower "cost of entry" for new ground stations
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Solid-state recorders for onboard image storage RADARSAT-2 will have high-capacity electronic data recorders onboard, therefore, potential exists to record and downlink the same data set. Solid-state data recorders offer improved reliability over tape recorders, and allow addressable data retrieval. |
- Higher reliability
- Faster image access
- Simultaneous recording and downlink
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RADARSAT-2 compared
This is of interest especially to users of RADARSAT-1 data.
| General characteristics |
RADARSAT-2 |
RADARSAT-1 |
| Total mass at launch |
2,200 kg |
2,750 kg |
| Mission life |
7 years |
5 years |
| SAR antenna dimensions |
15 m x 1.5 m |
15 m x 1.5 m |
| Solar arrays (each) |
3.73 m x 1.8 m |
87 in x 52 in (2.21 m x 1.32 m) |
| Bus |
3.7 m x 1.36 m |
3.55 m x 2.46 m |
| Antenna Characteristics |
RADARSAT-2 |
RADARSAT-1 |
| Active Antenna |
C-Band T/R modules |
C-band 5.6 cm |
| Centre Frequency |
5.405 GHz |
5.3 GHz |
| Bandwidth |
100 MHz |
30.30 MHz |
| Polarization |
HH, VV, HV, VH |
HH |
| Polarization Isolation |
> 25 dB |
> 20 dB |
| Aperture Length |
15 m |
15 m |
| Aperture width |
1.37 m |
1.5 m |
| Mass |
750 kg |
679 kg |
| Deployment Mechanism |
Extendable support structure (ESS) |
Extendable support structure (ESS) |
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