Advances in spaceborne synthetic aperture radar sensor technologyThe evolution of space SARs for NASA projects since Seasat (1978) is surveyed, with an emphasis on hardware development. The fundamental principles of SAR are reviewed; the SIR-A and SIR-B instruments flown as Shuttle payloads are characterized; their antennas, transmitters, receivers, and data subsystems are described; the advantages offered by the SIR-C dual-frequency (L and C band) dual-polarization distributed SAR (being developed for a future Shuttle flight and as the basis of an SAR for the Earth Observing System) are explained; and a number of technical challenges are identified (including RF elements, structural fidelity, pointing accuracy, data handling, and dc power). Drawings, diagrams, sample images, photographs, and tables are provided.
Document ID
19870028344
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Caro, E. R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Ruzek, M. (California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States)