MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.
announced today that the government of Norway has agreed to
purchase $15 million (CDN) worth of RADARSAT-2 data. Under the agreement, the
first of its kind in Europe, Norway has committed to pre-paying for much of
the data.
Rolf Skar, Managing Director of the Norwegian Space Centre, said: “We’ve
been a longtime RADARSAT-1 customer since the satellite was launched. We were
the first station to sign up for RADARSAT-1 data, and this agreement to use
RADARSAT-2 data in the years to come demonstrates our appreciation of its
utility.”
The Norwegian data purchase also makes provision for industrial
collaboration and exchange of technology between MacDonald Dettwiler and
Associates and Kongsberg Spacetec and Kongsberg Satellite Services.
Norway will use the satellite data for ship detection, detection of oil
pollution, and monitoring ice conditions in the country’s territorial waters.
The RADARSAT-2 program ensures the continuation of the original RADARSAT
program, and the development of Canada’s Earth Observation business sector.
The new satellite will be capable of image resolution ranging from 3 to 100
meters. RADARSAT-2 will also be the first commercial radar satellite to offer
multi-polarization capability that will aid in identifying a variety of
surface features and objects.
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