It utilized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to obtain images of the Earth's surface to manage natural resources and monitor global climate change.

RADARSAT-1 was launched at 14:22 UTC on 4 November 1995,[2] from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, into a Sun-synchronous orbit (dawn-dusk) above the Earth with an altitude of 798 km (496 mi) and inclination of 98.60°.

RADARSAT-1 used a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor to image the Earth at a single microwave frequency of 5.3 GHz, in the C band (wavelength of 5.6 cm).

[1] The SAR support structure was designed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman Astro Aerospace and deployed to 15 m (49 ft) in length on orbit.

Thus, Radarsat-1 imaged the Earth, day or night, in any atmospheric condition, such as cloud cover, rain, snow, dust or haze.

Radarsat-2 was launched on 14 December 2007 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan[6] RADARSAT-1 covered the Arctic daily, and most of Canada every 72 hours depending on instrument orientation and mode.

Following numerous attempts to resolve the problem, the CSA, in consultation with its commercial data distributor MDA Geospatial Services Inc. concluded that RADARSAT-1 was no longer operational.