BackForwardInstrument:  W-SAR 

Instrument details
Acronym W-SAR
Full name W-SAR
Purpose All-weather high resolution observation of land and ocean features
Short description X-band SAR with frequency around 9.5 GHz. Variable resolution and swath. Details not yet available
Background Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, side looking. Swath selectable to 40 km, 80 km or 150 km
Resolution Selectable to 1 m, 5 m or 10 m, depending on the associated swath
Coverage / Cycle Depending on the utilised mode and the duty cycle. Best case: 1.5 months
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency CAST
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: TBD
Last update: 2023-11-21
Detailed characteristics
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 1
  • SAR imagers and altimeters
  • SAR imager
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.