BackForwardInstrument:  Capella SAR 

Instrument details
Acronym Capella SAR
Full name Capella SAR
Purpose High-resolution all-weather multi-purpose imager for ocean, land and ice
Short description X-band SAR, frequency 9.65 GHz, single polarisation (HH), variable swath/resolution [see detailed characteristics below]
Background New development
Scanning Technique Side-looking, swath 10 to 50 km, depending on operation mode - See table
Resolution 0.3 m or more, depending on operation mode - See table
Coverage / Cycle Global, depending on operation mode: minimum 7 days.
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency Capella
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2019 to 2040
Last update: 2021-08-31
Detailed characteristics

Operation mode

Resolution

Swath

Polarisation

Spotlight

0.3 m

10 km

HH

Sliding Spotlight

0.3 m

20 km

HH

Stripmap

0.3 m

30 km

HH

Multi-swath Stripmap

0.3 m

50 km

HH
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Active and radio-occultation sensor
  • Imaging radar (SAR)
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 4
  • GNSS radio occultation (commercial)
  • SAR constellation (commercial)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Fraction of vegetated land
  • Glacier motion
  • Glacier topography
  • Land cover
  • Land surface topography
  • Soil moisture at surface
  • Soil type
  • Vegetation type
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Fire fractional cover3 - highInfrequent coverage.X-band SAR. High resolution, for fire boundary detection
Fraction of vegetated land*3 - highNo specific limitation.X-band SAR
Glacier cover2 - very highLong time for mapping.X-band SAR for accurate boundary detection
Glacier motion*5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Glacier topography*3 - highLong time for mapping.X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Ice sheet topography3 - highLong time for mapping.X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Land cover*3 - highNo specific limitation.X-band SAR
Land surface topography*3 - highLong time for mapping.X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Oil spill cover1 - primaryInfrequent coverage.X-band SAR
Snow cover3 - highThick snow only.. Infrequent coverage.X-band SAR
Snow status (wet/dry)4 - fairThick snow only.. Infrequent coverage.X-band SAR
Snow water equivalent3 - highChange detection only.. Infrequent coverage.X-band SAR. SWE is retrieved by grigging with data from ground networks
Soil moisture at surface*3 - highStrongly affected by vegetation.. Infrequent coverage.X-band SAR
Soil type*3 - highNo specific limitation.X-band SAR
Vegetation type*5 - marginalNo specific limitation.X-band SAR
Sea-ice cover1 - primaryNo specific limitation.X-band SAR
Sea-ice elevation4 - fairNo specific limitation.X-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry
Sea-ice thickness4 - fairChange detection only.X-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry. Thickness inferred by ice model
Sea-ice type2 - very highNo specific limitation.X-band SAR. Type interpreted as age/roughness