RADARSAT [SAR imaging]

RADARSAT, the first Canadian remote-sensing spacecraft, is designed to provide Earth observation information for five years. The satellite is scheduled for launch in 1994. The only payload instrument is a 5.6-cm-wavelength (C-band) synthetic aperture imaging radar (SAR). RADARSAT will gather data on command for up to 28 min during each cycle of its 800-km (nominal) near-polar orbit. Image resolutions from 10 to 100 m at swath widths of 45 to 500 km will be available. The RADARSAT mission is reviewed, and the design, characteristics, and implementation of the radar are introduced. Technical problems addressed include calibration, rapid data processing, the phased array antenna that provides controlled beam steering, and the first satellite implementation of a special radar technique known as ScanSAR