Saint-Hubert, Quebec – March 10, 2003 – The Norwegian Space Centre (NSC), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Natural Resources Canada, announced a long-term agreement to continue their collaboration in radar-based Earth observation.
With the signing of a Memorandum of nderstanding among the three organizations and the signing of agreements between the major commercial partners in Canada and Norway, a seamless transition between the RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 programs for Norway is assured.
“By signing this agreement with Norway, the Government of Canada is reaffirming its commitment to supporting the Canadian space industry and building on our expertise in Earth observation,” said Industry Minister Allan Rock. “With its leading-edge instruments, the RADARSAT-2 satellite will help us monitor and protect the Earth.”
Since the 1980s, Norway has pioneered the development of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) applications for ship detection and oil pollution detection, and has been involved in the development of algorithms and processor technology for near real time processing of SAR data through the work of NSC, Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) and Kongsberg Spacetec (KSPT).
Canada is a world leader in SAR technology. The nation’s successful RADARSAT-1 program has provided a strong foundation for this work through the CSA and the program’s commercial partners MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) and RADARSAT International (RSI). The Norwegian Space Centre was instrumental in establishing reception of Radarsat-1 data at the Tromsø Satellite Station in 1996. The data has been used for operational ocean monitoring, ship detection and oil pollution detection.
As part of this overall collaboration, NSC has agreed to invest $15 million (CDN) in order to get access to RADARSAT-2 data from RSI for national and commercial use.
As the prime contractor and owner/operator of RADARSAT-2, MDA will work with Kongsberg Spacetec to enable Spacetec’s current customers to use SAR data from RADARSAT-2. They will jointly develop the necessary adaptations to the RADARSAT-1 processing systems required for RADARSAT-2. This cooperation will ensure that Kongsberg Spacetec can continue to support its current customer base, and provide a smooth transition to the RADARSAT-2 program.
In addition, RSI and KSAT have entered into an agreement for the commercial utilization of the data. This agreement covers data reception at the KSAT facilities in Tromsø and Svalbard, rights for distribution of data in Scandinavia and the Baltic states and worldwide rights for distribution of derived information. KSAT was the first organization to enter into a reception and distribution agreement for RADARSAT-1, and this latest agreement will ensure reception of RADARSAT-2 and continuous data supply to KSAT’s growing customer base.