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Envisat

Spaceborne Radar
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Basic Information
Name
Envisat
Designation
Alternate Designation
Equipment Type
Spaceborne Radar
Manufacturer
Date of Introduction
Description

The Environmental Satellite (Envisat)-1, launched in 2002, was developed by EADS Astrium for the European Space Agency (ESA) as the successor to the ERS-1 and ERS-2 remote sensing satellites. As Europe's largest Earth observation satellite at 8.2 tonnes, Envisat carried the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument, which extended the mission of the Active Microwave Instrument (AMI) SAR instruments from previous ERS satellites. Operating at 5.331 GHz (C-band) with a dual linear polarization, ASAR transmitted alternating vertically and horizontally polarized electromagnetic waves, receiving backscatter simultaneously on two separate channels to derive the complete scattering matrix of a scene on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The ASAR instrument utilized an active phased array antenna, with incidence angles ranging from 15° to 45° and a swath width of 500 to 800 km, from an orbit of 796 km with a 98.54° inclination and a 100-minute orbital period.

Specifications ASAR
frequency 5.331 GHz C band)
polarization dual linear
pulse repetition frequency (PRF) 1 650 … 2 100 Hz
transmitters band width 16 MHz
across-track resolution 30 m
along track resolution 30 m
orbit 796 km, 98,54°
orbital period 100 min
incidence angle 15° … 45°
swath width 500 … 800 km
Specifications RA-2
frequency 3.2 GHz
pulse repetition frequency (PRF) 448.83
pulsewidth (τ) 20 µs
peak power 60 W
transmitters band width 160 MHz
beamwidth 5.25°
Details
Category Spaceborne Radars
Space > Spaceborne Radars
Classification
Domain
Space
Equipment Status
Active
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