Satnews Daily
November 30th, 2015

TerraSAR-X and RADARSAT-2 Improve North Canadian Region Monitoring For Emergency Response + Safety Operations 


[Satnews] Based on the collaboration in space, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR)  announce the funding of six major research projects in the domain of Emergency Response and Safety of Operations. DLR has awarded Airbus Defence and Space with two of them.

In collaboration with MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, Ltd. (MDA), the first project will examine man-made changes on land using multi-frequency SAR satellite Data. The methods developed throughout this project will monitor the changes’ impact on the environment including new buildings, roads, forests, and surface movements due to industrial activities such as mining. For the second project, Airbus Defence and Space will work with C-CORE to investigate the synergistic use of X- and C-band SAR-data for tactical ship route planning in Arctic Waters, its objective being to monitor the sea ice situation along shipping routes in the north. Both Canadian partners receive funds from CSA.

Taking benefit from combining both missions, the German TerraSAR-X and Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellites, these projects aim to support safe transportation, exploration, and monitoring. Enfotec Technical Services Inc., one of the end users, believes that “satellite imagery plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and efficiency of navigation in ice covered waters. This project addresses how to best use different satellites concurrently in order to increase the overall quality of the ice information provided to ships.”

“With our experience in natural disasters and maritime monitoring, we are confident to support Canada in improving its emergency capacity readiness in the High North,” said Simon Jacques, President of Airbus Defence and Space Canada Inc.