Optical sensor for Radarsat

The potential uses of VIR-satellite data, provided by the Radarsat program, in the management of Canada's land and water resources are identified, and various sensor-parameter options based on applications requirements are specified. Two proposed optical-sensor systems, which meet Canadian requirements for VIR data, are described. It is shown that a new compromise configuration with a spatial resolution of 40 m and a swath, side to side pointing of 400 km is the most appropriate single source of VIR-satellite data for earth-resource applications in Canada. This system is coupled to a cloud sensor for automatic pointing to areas of least cloud cover. The data are presented in tables.