An outlook for European spaceborne synthetic aperture radar

Two complementary future SAR instruments to be carried on separate platforms have been studied by the European Space agency (ESA). (1) CLIMACS, a modest-resolution, global monitoring SAR. (2) NGSI, a high resolution, flexible viewing SAR. CLIMACS will provide a long-term, uninterrupted global monitoring of land and ice surfaces with high temporal, high radiometric resolution. NGSI will be an all-purpose sensor providing synoptic views of selected scenes. The NGSI study goal was the definition of future technology developements. In parallel, the German Space Agency (DARA) is funding the development of an active antenna demonstrator (DESA) in order to promote further technological developments