By Brian Orlotti
The Canadian government has announced that it will provide Ukraine's military with high-resolution satellite imagery from RADARSAT-2.
As outlined in the February 12th, 2015 Globe and Mail article, "Canada to give satellite imagery to Ukrainian military," the deal will greatly sharpen Ukraine's battlefield awareness in their year-long war against Russian-backed separatists which has claimed over 5,000 lives. The move has precedent and highlights space technology's use as a political tool rather than one of science or commerce.
The deal stems from a June 2014 visit to Canada by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during which he requested access to Canadian satellite imagery.
As part of the deal, Canada will provide Ukraine with data from RADARSAT-2, a synthetic aperture radar satellite launched in 2007 and operated by Richmond, BC. based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) on behalf of the Canadian government.
RADARSAT-2 is used for coastal surveillance, surface ship tracking, land use analysis/mapping and pollution monitoring. The satellite can monitor Earth day and night in all types of weather.
The deal was made public on the same day (Feb 12th) that a new ceasefire agreement, brokered by Germany and France and intended to de-escalate the fighting in eastern Ukraine, was reached by Ukraine and Russia. As of Feb 17th, however, fighting continues along the Ukraine/Russia border and both sides have refused to withdraw their heavy weaponry until the other side does first.
The Canadian government had apparently intended that Ukraine utilize the imagery defensively i.e. to verify that Russia was honouring the terms of the ceasefire (i.e. by withdrawal of its heavy weaponry) and to efficiently deploy troops to counter separatist attacks. With the apparent failure of the ceasefire and continuance of the war, however, Ukraine's military might now use the RADARSAT-2 imagery to go on the offensive by targeting separatist troops and artillery.
According to the Globe & Mail article, this possibility triggered a dispute among officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development who opposed sharing the data. In a gesture to mollify its critics, the Canadian government has stipulated that Ukraine is to use the imagery for defensive purposes only.
Of course, the specifics of how this provision is to be enforced has not been made public.
Satellite imagery has played a significant role in the Ukraine conflict. In August 2014, NATO made public satellite images showing troop staging areas along the Russia/Ukraine border as well as sophisticated Russian heavy weaponry (artillery, rockets, and missiles) crossing into Ukraine—refuting Russian claims that it is not supplying the separatists and that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are volunteers.
An historical example of shared satellite imagery includes the 1982 Falklands War. During that conflict, as outlined in the March 11th, 2013 Space Review article, "The Lion and the Vortex," the US provided the UK with both satellite imagery of the islands as well as signals intelligence-both instrumental to the UK's victory.
The Canadian government has announced that it will provide Ukraine's military with high-resolution satellite imagery from RADARSAT-2.
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| Eastern Europe at night. An Expedition 29 crew photo taken from the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2011 from an oblique angle. The image includes Budapest, Hungary in the foreground (center left) and Kiev, Ukraine in the distance (top center). RADARSAT-2, which uses a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capable of multiple polarization modes with a highest resolution of one metre in spotlight mode (three metres in ultra fine mode), is able to show far more detail and cut through cloud cover. Photo c/o NASA. |
As outlined in the February 12th, 2015 Globe and Mail article, "Canada to give satellite imagery to Ukrainian military," the deal will greatly sharpen Ukraine's battlefield awareness in their year-long war against Russian-backed separatists which has claimed over 5,000 lives. The move has precedent and highlights space technology's use as a political tool rather than one of science or commerce.
The deal stems from a June 2014 visit to Canada by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during which he requested access to Canadian satellite imagery.
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| Petro Poreshenko. Photo c/o The Telegraph. |
RADARSAT-2 is used for coastal surveillance, surface ship tracking, land use analysis/mapping and pollution monitoring. The satellite can monitor Earth day and night in all types of weather.
The deal was made public on the same day (Feb 12th) that a new ceasefire agreement, brokered by Germany and France and intended to de-escalate the fighting in eastern Ukraine, was reached by Ukraine and Russia. As of Feb 17th, however, fighting continues along the Ukraine/Russia border and both sides have refused to withdraw their heavy weaponry until the other side does first.
The Canadian government had apparently intended that Ukraine utilize the imagery defensively i.e. to verify that Russia was honouring the terms of the ceasefire (i.e. by withdrawal of its heavy weaponry) and to efficiently deploy troops to counter separatist attacks. With the apparent failure of the ceasefire and continuance of the war, however, Ukraine's military might now use the RADARSAT-2 imagery to go on the offensive by targeting separatist troops and artillery.
According to the Globe & Mail article, this possibility triggered a dispute among officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development who opposed sharing the data. In a gesture to mollify its critics, the Canadian government has stipulated that Ukraine is to use the imagery for defensive purposes only.
Of course, the specifics of how this provision is to be enforced has not been made public.
Satellite imagery has played a significant role in the Ukraine conflict. In August 2014, NATO made public satellite images showing troop staging areas along the Russia/Ukraine border as well as sophisticated Russian heavy weaponry (artillery, rockets, and missiles) crossing into Ukraine—refuting Russian claims that it is not supplying the separatists and that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are volunteers.
An historical example of shared satellite imagery includes the 1982 Falklands War. During that conflict, as outlined in the March 11th, 2013 Space Review article, "The Lion and the Vortex," the US provided the UK with both satellite imagery of the islands as well as signals intelligence-both instrumental to the UK's victory.
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| Brian Orlotti. |
Satellites remain a double-edged sword; despite their power to bring us together and expand our knowledge of the universe, they are just as often used for less noble pursuits.
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Brian Orlotti is a network operations centre analyst at Shomi, a Canadian provider of on-demand internet streaming media and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.
Brian Orlotti is a network operations centre analyst at Shomi, a Canadian provider of on-demand internet streaming media and a regular contributor to the Commercial Space blog.
"Satellite imagery has played a significant role in the Ukraine conflict. In August 2014, NATO made public satellite images showing troop staging areas along the Russia/Ukraine border as well as sophisticated Russian heavy weaponry (artillery, rockets, and missiles) crossing into Ukraine—refuting Russian claims that it is not supplying the separatists and that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are volunteers."
ReplyDeleteAm I correct in my guess that you have never personally looked at these Ukrainian screen shots from google earth? There are no satellite photos, from google earth or elsewhere, that show Russian troops or Russian tanks entering Ukraine, in spite of USA having a satellite in stationary orbit over the border. I'll bet they have images of ants fornicating on the Russian/Ukrainian border, but State has been "unable to confirm" any of the several dozen invasions Ukraine has reported. Gradually the light has begun to go on: Ukrainians will say anything for money.
Most of the shots referenced in the article were released to the public shortly after publication, as referenced in the April 10th, 2014 Guardian article, "Satellite images reveal Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border," which is available online at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/satellite-images-russian-military-ukraine-border and includes several of the photo's.
ReplyDeleteOf course, those shots didn't come from Google Earth. and were instead supplied through Digitalglobe.
Hello 'Cassandra',
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback. As Chuck said, the images didn't come from Google Earth but from Digitalglobe. This article from the American Association for the Advancement of Science has the actual Digitalglobe satellite images along with GPS coordinates:
http://www.aaas.org/page/satellite-imagery-assessment-crisis-ukraine-part-two-border-deployments
Brian Orlotti