Monday, September 08, 2014

Space Agency Funds Training for RADARSAT Researchers

          by Chuck Black

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has finally decided to develop a larger pool of Canadian post-secondary researchers able to work with RADARSAT-2 data.

Part of a 2012 presentation focused on Space Utilization: Space Applications Linked to Government Priorities/ Departments available online at the CSA website which discussed RADARSAT and other Earth imaging data and its uses. Graphic c/o CSA. 

As outlined in the September 4th, 2014 announcement of opportunity (AO) on the CSA website under the title Science and Operational Applications Research for RADARSAT-2, the AO is "being offered to Canadian universities and post-secondary institutions in fulfillment of the Earth Observation Applications and Utilization (EOAU) Division's goals to support the training and development of highly qualified people (HQP) in the field of space-borne SAR techniques and methodologies using RADARSAT-2 data, to foster research in the development of RADARSAT-2 EO products and services, and to facilitate access to RADARSAT-2 data and increase its use."

According to the OA, the results of a CSA evaluation of the Earth observation data and imagery utilization program show that:
... the education and use of SAR data within Canadian universities remains limited despite Canada's reputation in this technology at the international level.
As discussed in the August 25th, 2014 post "Open Source Development of Earth Imaging Data Applications," the CSA has recently been coming to grips with the growing influence of open source development methodologies in the processing of Earth image data.

The announcement that the CSA is looking to develop a larger pool of Canadian post-secondary researchers able to work with RADARSAT-2 data suggests that the Federal government is finally aware of the options relating to open source development. 

The deadline for submitting to the new proposal is October 13th, 2014.

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