Overview
Major players in Canada's space industry include the national Canadian Space Agency, UTIAS (University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies) and commercial firms such as Kepler Communications and Telesat Canada. These are the 53 satellites operated or owned by organizations in Canada, based on the interactive table representation of the UCS Satellite Database compiled by the Union of Concerned Scientist (UCS).
Most of these satellites from Canada are launched for commercial use (73.6%) and for the purpose of communications (64.2%).Majority of these satellites are LEO satellites, with around 39 (73.6%) launched so far.
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Insights from Canada's Satellite Dataset
Which year saw the most satellites launched for Canada?
Who operates or owns the most satellites in Canada?
Which rocket has delivered the most satellites from Canada to space?
Which launch site has launched the most satellites from Canada to space?
What is the most common type of satellite orbit?
Apogee, Perigee & Period
Satellite Mass
Second heaviest elliptical satellite launched into space at 490 kg
Designed for earth science, Cassiope is a government satellite operated by Canadian Space Agency (Canada).
A elliptical LEO satellite, it was launched into space using Falcon 9 as the launch vehicle from Vandenberg AFB on 29 September 2013. Cassiope was constructed by Canadian Space Agency (Canada).
Cassiope has a launch mass of 490 kg and is expected to have a operational lifetime of 2 years. It navigates with the COSPAR ID 2013-055A and NORAD ID 39265.
Using its self-produced usable power of 600 watts, Cassiope orbits at an inclination of 81 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
The satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 325km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 1,486km. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 7.98E-02 and it takes 103 minutes to orbit the Earth.
Third heaviest GEO satellite launched into space at 7,075 kg
Operated by Telesat Canada Ltd. (BCE, Inc.) of Canada, Telstar 19 Vantage is a commercial satellite launched for the purpose of communications.
Constructed by Space Systems/Loral (USA), it was launched into space on 22 July 2018 using Falcon 9 as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral. Telstar 19 Vantage orbits around the Earth as a GEO satellite.
Telstar 19 Vantage has a launch mass of 7,075 kg and is expected to have a operational lifetime of 15 years. It navigates with the COSPAR ID 2018-059A and NORAD ID 43562.
Taking 1,436 minutes to orbit the Earth, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 35,780km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 35,792km. The eccentricity of the orbit is 1.42E-04 and it orbits along the Earth longitude of -63 degrees.
Third heaviest satellite launched by Kepler Communications into space at 4 kg
A commercial satellite, Kepler-2 CASE is operated by Kepler Communications of Canada for the purpose of communications.
Constructed by Clyde Space (UK), it was launched into space on 29 November 2018 using PSLV as the launch vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Kepler-2 CASE orbits around the Earth as a sun-synchronous LEO satellite.
Kepler-2 CASE has a launch mass of 4 kg and navigates with the COSPAR ID 2018-096L and NORAD ID 43729.
Taking 95 minutes to orbit the Earth, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 476km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 500km. The eccentricity of the orbit is 1.75E-03 and it orbits at an inclination of 97 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Operated by Canadian Space Agency of Canada, NEOSSat is a government satellite launched for the purpose of space observation.
Delivered via PSLV (launch vehicle) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, it was launched into space on 25 February 2013 and orbits the Earth as a sun-synchronous LEO satellite. NEOSSat was constructed by Microsat Systems Canada Inc. (Canada).
NEOSSat has a launch mass of 74 kg and navigates with the COSPAR ID 2013-009D and NORAD ID 39089.
With an orbital eccentricity of 9.79E-04, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 772km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 786km. It takes 100 minutes to orbit the Earth at an inclination of 99 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Heaviest satellite launched by Canadian Space Agency into space at 1,430 kg
Operated by Canadian Space Agency of Canada, RCM-1 is a government satellite launched for the purpose of earth observation (Radar Imaging).
A sun-synchronous LEO satellite, it was launched into space using Falcon 9 as the launch vehicle from Vandenberg AFB on 12 June 2019. RCM-1 was constructed by MDA Corporation (Canada).
RCM-1 has a launch mass of 1,430 kg and is expected to have a operational lifetime of 7 years. It navigates with the COSPAR ID 2019-033A and NORAD ID 44322.
With an orbital eccentricity of 1.44E-03, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 584km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 604km. It takes 97 minutes to orbit the Earth at an inclination of 98 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Third heaviest satellite launched by Soyuz into space at 2,924 kg
Radarsat-2 is a commercial satellite operated by MDA Corporation (Canada) for the purpose of earth observation (Radar Imaging).
A sun-synchronous LEO satellite, it was launched into space using Soyuz as the launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 14 December 2007. Radarsat-2 was constructed by MacDonald, Dettwiler/Thales Alenia Spazio (Canada/Italy).
Radarsat-2 has a launch mass of 2,924 kg and is expected to have a operational lifetime of 7 years. It navigates with the COSPAR ID 2007-061A and NORAD ID 32382.
Taking 101 minutes to orbit the Earth, the satellite's perigee, which is the point of the orbit closest to the Earth's center of mass, is 791km while its apogee, which is the point of the orbit farthest from the Earth's center of mass, is 793km. The eccentricity of the orbit is 1.40E-04 and it orbits at an inclination of 99 degrees to the equatorial plane of the Earth.
Get more insights from these satellite datasets
Full datasets: All satellites by launch date | The Heaviest Satellites That Are Launched to Space
By Use Type: Civil-use satellites | Commercial satellites | Government satellites | Military satellites
By Country: USA | UK | France | Germany | Japan | China | Russia | Australia | Canada
By Orbit Class/Type: LEO satellites | MEO satellites | GEO satellites | Elliptical orbit | Polar orbit | Equatorial orbit | Non-polar inclined orbit | Sun-synchronous orbit | Molniya orbit
By Operators: SpaceX | EUTELSAT | SES | European Space Agency (ESA) | Planet Labs | Iridium | Spire Global | OneWeb | Swarm Technologies | NASA - Dataset of Satellites Launched (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) | Canadian Space Agency (CSA) - Dataset of Satellites Launched
By Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9 | Ariane 5 | Ariane 5 ECA | Delta 2 | Dnepr | Electron | Falcon Heavy | Long March 2C | Long March 2D | Long March 3B | Pegasus | Proton | Proton M | PSLV | Rokot | Soyuz | Soyuz-2.1b | Vega
By Launch Vehicle: Cape Canaveral | Baikonur Cosmodrome | Guiana Space Center | International Space Station | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center | Plesetsk Cosmodrome | Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 | Satish Dhawan Space Centre | Taiyuan Launch Center | Vandenberg AFB | Xichang Satellite Launch Center | Boeing Satellite Systems | Airbus Defense and Space | EADS Astrium | Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems | Space Systems/Loral | Surrey Satellite Technology | Technical University Berlin | Thales Alenia Space