It launched on 14 December 2007 aboard a Starsem Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

[3] Data may be acquired in any combination of horizontal and vertical polarizations (HH, HV, VV, VH).

[5] In June 1994, the Government of Canada approved the Long-Term Space Plan II, which authorized the CSA to develop a follow-on to RADARSAT-1.

[1] The CSA intended to launch RADARSAT-2 with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in exchange for data sharing.

In 1999, the CSA began exploring Russian and European Space Agency (ESA) launch options.

Ultimately, Alenia Aerospazio of Italy was selected to build the bus, with additional costs accruing from terminating the OSC contract.

[1] The end of the spacecraft and ground segment commissioning period was declared on April 27, 2008, after which routine commercial operation started.

The upgrades consisted of creating new beam mode (OSVN and DVWF) that target improvements in maritime vessels detection over a broad area, as well as upgrading the RADARSAT-2 ground segment to improve conflict resolution with other government users.

The network of ground receiving station continues to expand with 19 partners organization using 53 antennas at various reception sites (as of Jun 2020).