FOREWORD
The Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is the
most advanced imaging radar system to have flown in Earth orbit. Carried in the
cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in April and October, 1994,
SIR-C/X-SAR
simultaneously recorded
SAR
data at three wavelengths (L-, C-, and X-bands; 23.5, 5.8 and 3.1
cm, respectively). In addition, the full polarimetric scattering matrix was obtained
by the
SIR-C
instrument at L- and C-band over a variety of terrain and vegetation
types. The integrated system is steerable in look angle (electronically in the case of
SIR-C,
mechanically in the case of X-SAR) to obtain data in the angular range of
15 -60 . Imaging resolution varies from about 10 to 50 meters, depending on the
geometry and data taking configuration. Over the two flights, a total of 143 hours (93 terabits)
of
SAR
data were digitally recorded on tape for subsequent processing in the U.S.,
Germany, and Italy. During the October 1994 flight of
SIR-C/X-SAR,
over one million
square kilometers of repeat-pass
SAR
interferometry data were also obtained.
SIR-C/X-SAR
is a cooperative experiment between the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur für Raumfahrtangelegenheiten
(DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).
SIR-C
was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier
and Alenia Spazio companies, with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt
(DLR), the major partner in science, operations, and data processing. The experiment provides an evolutionary step in NASA's Spaceborne Imaging Radar (SIR) program that
began with the Seasat
SAR
in 1978, and continued with
SIR-A
in 1981 and
SIR-B
in
1984. It also represents a continuation of Germany's imaging radar program which
started with the Microwave Remote Sensing Experiment (MRSE) flown aboard the Shuttle on the
first SPACELAB mission in 1983.
The
SIR-C/X-SAR
Science Team consisting of 52 investigator teams from more than a
dozen countries are using
SIR-C/X-SAR
data in studies of geology, hydrology, ecology,
oceanography. Other investigations are focused on topics in
SAR
calibration and electromagnetic theory. In addition, interferometric data from
SIR-C/X-SAR
are being used
for topographic mapping, and surface change monitoring connected with tectonism,
volcanism and glacier ice motion.
SIR-C/X-SAR
data provide unique information for studying the health of the planet
and its biodiversity, as well as critical data for natural hazards and resource assessments.
The following papers summarize science results from the two flights of
SIR-C/X-SAR.
This report contains 44 investigator team reports and several additional reports
from co-investigators and other researchers. At the time of this writing, processing
and analysis of
SIR-C/X-SAR
data are continuing. Since the
SIR-C/X-SAR
flights in
1994, hundreds of additional investigators have accessed
SIR-C/X-SAR
data for studies
as diverse as archeology, land-use, and resource management indicating that new findings
and discoveries can be expected from this rich and varied data set for many years
to come.
This document can be found at the following World Wide Web site:
http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/ProgressReports0496/
D. L. Evans
J. J. Plaut, editors
Converted to HTML by Alvin Wong,
al.wong@jpl.nasa.gov
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
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