The many systems that form the RADARSAT-2 ground segment are housed in Canadian Space Agency facilities in Longueuil, Quebec, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in CCRS facilities in Gatineau, Quebec, and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and MDA headquarters in Richmond, British Columbia.

This extensive network also includes reception, archiving, and processing facilities in facilities all over the world. This increases reliability and speeds up response times.

Quality data ensured

Order handling takes orders for image acquisitions and products, verifying them for compliance with access control policy and commanding the operations needed to complete the orders.

Next, acquisition and reception planning plans imaging and downlink activities for the spacecraft and checks for feasibility. It also produces spacecraft tasking schedules and reception schedules for the ground receiving stations.

Ground stations in Longueuil, Quebec, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, are used for sending tracking, telemetry, and commands up to the spacecraft, receiving the telemetry data, and controlling the spacecraft.

Image data is sent by the spacecraft for reception and archiving. It is catalogued and available for processing and distribution by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS). Processing and distribution performed by MDA's Goespatial Services, generates standard image products from the C-band data received from the satellite and distributes them to end-users. There are fast-turnaround and routine product delivery modes.

Image quality is maintained by a process where calibration data is ordered and analyzed, and updates are made to operational parameters as needed.