CSA Releases First Image from a RADARSAT Constellation Mission Satellite

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has released the “first engineering image” from one of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellites.

In releasing the image, the CSA said “one of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) satellites captured its very first engineering image of the sea ice in the Strait of Davis and the coast of Baffin Island, Nunavut, including the community of Qikiqtarjuaq, home to about 600 people. This non-calibrated image was acquired on June 29, 2019, at a 100-metre resolution in a low noise ScanSAR mode. “

The three RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellites were launched on June 12. The satellites were ready for the commissioning phase less than a week after launch. According to the CSA commissioning of the satellites is expected to take three to six months. However, routine data collection from the satellites could begin as early as October this year.

One of Canada’s other active satellites, CASSIOPE took the following short video of the satellites three days after launch on June 15.

??’s CASSIOPE satellite captured this video of the #RCMSatellites on June 15, 3 days after their launch. While the three spacecraft have been following each other since then, they will be separated by 120 degrees around the globe in a few weeks. @MDA_maxar

?: @UCalgary/@ESA pic.twitter.com/btOCy2WtJL

— CanadianSpaceAgency (@csa_asc) July 3, 2019