RDL Space Corporation, a subsidiary of Research & Development Laboratories (RDL), today announced it has been awarded a license from the U.S. Government to build and operate a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite. With up to one meter ground resolution, the satellite will allow the imaging of objects on the ground as small as one meter across.
As the first company in the United States to ever receive a license to
operate a commercial radar satellite, RDL Space Corporation will sell
images – and services to interpret and process those images – to various
government and private users around the world.
Unlike the more commonly known optical satellites, SAR technology provides
detailed images day or night, in any kind of weather. The satellite,
Radar1, will be in a low earth orbit and travel completely around the earth
fourteen times a day. It is scheduled to launch in 2001.
The license signing ceremony occurred in private Wednesday June 17, 1998 in
the offices of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which received RDL's
application in February 1997. The Department of Commerce license
represents the authority and requirements from all other concerned U.S.
Government agencies, including the State Department and the Department of
Defense.
Autometric, a key SAR image processor for the U.S. Government in Desert
Storm, is a partner with RDL Space Corporation in launching and operating
Radar1.
"RDL is assembling a world class team to integrate and launch Radar1," said
Dr. Raj Dutt, president and CEO of RDL, "U.S. allies can receive strategic
information and benefit from advanced American space surveillance
technologies without having to build a system of their own."
About RDL
Research & Development Laboratories (RDL) is a diversified aerospace
company with sales in excess of $20 million in manufacturing, digital
signal processing, systems engineering, management/operations and advanced
communications systems. Founded in 1984, the company has performed
innovative high-technology research and development for the U.S. Air Force,
NORAD, the U.S. Navy, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Space
Command and its own commercial subsidiary companies, and has been ranked
among the top 25 defense contractors in the Los Angeles area. Today RDL
specializes in the development and application of a wide range of dual-use
commercial and defense technologies.
