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RADARSAT 2 SATELLITE
A planetary inspector
Floods, melting glaciers, oil spills, logging, storms...
The Earth is a busy place! Starting in 2005, a new Canadian
satellite will be keeping an eye on both natural and
human phenomena down below.
A gifted little brother
Canada took the lead in Earth observation when
it introduced the revolutionary RADARSAT-1 in 1995. It
was the most advanced civilian radar satellite of its
time. Like its older sibling, RADARSAT-2 will be providing
radar images of the Earth for seven years, but the data
it sends back will be much more accurate and informative.
Radar technology
RADARSAT-1 and 2 gather data by bombarding the Earth with
radar waves. As the waves strike clouds, vegetation,
ships and roads, they are reflected back to the satellite
and used to produce an image. A smooth surface, like water,
will reflect "fewer" radar waves than a wheat field, for
instance.
A new way of looking at things
RADARSAT-2 is much more advanced than RADARSAT-1, for
it can glean more information from the same radar data.
It can distinguish between two very similar surfaces,
like a wheat field and a barley field. What's more, RADARSAT-2
can pick out objects as little as 3 metres across,
as compared with a limit of 8 metres for RADARSAT-1.
Secret code
RADARSAT-2 will provide very precise data on subjects
as varied as crops, tides, movements of icebergs
and ships... but users still have to know how to interpret
the data it sends us! The Canadian Space Agency will have
to train the scientists wishing to use RADARSAT-2 and
develop tools to help them get the most out of the satellite's
advanced technology.
Thanks!
The RADARSAT-2 model is on loan from the Canadian Space
Agency.
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