The three RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) satellites are being prepared for their launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at the SpaceX facilities at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. (submitted photo/Canadian Space Agency)

By Keaton Brown

Satellite Mapping

Agriculture Canada launches three new radar satellites

Jun 12, 2019 | 2:04 PM

Canada is set to launch three new satellites into orbit today as part of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, or RCM for short.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are working together with groups of scientists on the project that will load three satellites onto one rocket. After it’s launched into space, the satellites will share an orbital plane and take satellite images of Canada from coast to coast every two to three days.

The project will allow scientists and researchers to watch as crops grow, providing valuable information on different trends affecting Canadian crop production nationwide.

“Canada has a rich legacy in space based monitoring” Andrew M. Davidson, manager of Earth Observation Operations at Agriculture and Agri-foods Canada, said. “The data coming from these satellites together are going to provide wall to wall coverage over Canada’s terrestrial landmass.”

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They have also built new operation systems across Canada in Masstown, N.S.; Gatineau, Que; Prince Albert, Sask; Aldergrove, B.C. and Inuvik, N.W.T. to take in this new data from the RCM satellites.

“In my case, for example, I’m taking that raw data and developing a method to identify what crop is being grown in the field. What the health of that crop is and how much water is in the soil,” Heather McNairn, a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said.

One of the new innovations with this RADARSAT launch is a switch from optical satellites, which are like big digital cameras, to radar satellites which can see through clouds which allows them to be used in almost all weather conditions and at night.

The biggest difference between this RCM mission and the ones in the past is that the data is going to be open and available to all levels of government, the private sector and academia.

The goal behind making all of the data free and open to everyone is to allow similarly innovative applications and uses of that data to develop and support Canada’s agriculture sector as a whole.

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keaton.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow