RADARSAT: A SATELLITE DESIGNED FOR RESOURCE 
AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING 
Ed Langham 
RADARSAT Program 
Canadian Space Agency 
6767, Route de L'aéroport 
St. Hubert Quebec J3Y 8Y9 Canada 
ISPRS Commission VII / Working Group 2 
ABSTRACT 
RADARSAT, the first Canadian earth observation satellite, will be launched early in 1995. It will carry a very 
advanced synthetic aperture radar designed to provide world wide coverage in support of resource and 
environmental monitoring. Among its distinguishing features are the ability to point the radar beam in 
different directions, a choice of resolutions and swath widths and a service to users that will support near real 
time applications concemed with rapidly changing environmental phenomena. 
The paper describes the technical characteristics and the current status of the project, including operational 
aspects of mission planning, mission management and requests for data acquisition. 
024