Magellan Aerospace to Build Radarsat Main Components

Magellan Aerospace Corp. has been awarded a CDN$110-million contract from MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates Ltd. to build key components of the Canadian Space Agency's Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM).

 

The Toronto-based company will manufacture the three spacecraft buses, including the control systems, on-board computers, power generation and distribution systems, electronics, wiring and on-board communication links with the ground.

 

The RCM bus is based on Magellan’s MAC-200 small satellite bus that was first developed for the Canadian Space Agency’s CASSIOPE program.

 

New GPS and propulsion subsystems have been added to support the precision orbit maintenance requirements. Upgrades have also been made to the bus avionics to support the seven-year mission lifetime.

 

The RCM features C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to support maritime surveillance – including ship detection, ice monitoring, and oil spill detection – in addition to disaster management, and ecosystem monitoring of Canada and its surrounding Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic regions.

 

Assembly of the spacecraft, integration, and testing will be done at Magellan's facility in Winnipeg, where other Canadian Space Agency missions were manufactured, including CASSIOPE and SCISAT-1.

 

Set to launch in 2018, the RCM will circle the Earth every 96 minutes and offer access to 90% of the world's surface.

 

Since 2005, Magellan has been awarded the initial, preliminary, and detailed design contracts leading up to the current manufacturing phase.