The new satellite adds a space-based layer to Canada’s growing Arctic and continental surveillance network.

The Canadian Space Agency has awarded MDA Space a $688 million contract to build and launch a new radar surveillance satellite for the federal government.

The satellite will join Canada’s three-satellite RADARSAT Constellation Mission, which has operated since 2019. Federal departments use its imagery to monitor the Arctic, track ships, respond to disasters, and watch for environmental changes.

Why it matters

Radar satellites can collect images through cloud cover, smoke, and darkness. That makes them especially valuable in the Arctic, where weather, geography, and limited infrastructure make persistent surveillance difficult.

The new spacecraft will replenish the existing constellation and help prevent a future gap in access to Canadian-controlled Earth observation data.

The bigger picture

The satellite is one part of a much larger Canadian surveillance buildout.

Canada has just finalized a $2.5 billion deal for an Australian-developed Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar and has selected Saab as the preferred supplier for a new airborne early warning and control capability based on GlobalEye.

Each system covers a different part of the problem. RADARSAT provides broad surveillance from space, including maritime and Arctic monitoring. The ground-based radar will provide persistent early warning over Canada’s northern approaches. GlobalEye would add mobile airborne surveillance, command and control.

Together, they would give Canada complementary layers of surveillance across space, land, and air.

Built in Montreal

MDA Space will design, assemble, and test the satellite at its Montreal facility. The contract also covers launch, commissioning, and upgrades to the systems used to control the satellite and manage its data.

The satellite will use technology from MDA CHORUS, the company’s next-generation commercial radar satellite platform.

The $688 million award follows an earlier contract for long-lead components and forms part of the federal government’s $1 billion RADARSAT+ program, announced in 2023 to extend Canada’s sovereign space-based surveillance capability.