This document discusses the evolution of Earth observation systems from early missions like ERS-1 and ENVISAT to current and future systems like Copernicus Sentinel-1 and COSMO-SkyMed. It outlines key missions from 1991 to present and describes technologies and capabilities of new radar satellites including Sentinel-1, which provides global coverage every 12 days, and COSMO-SkyMed, which uses synthetic aperture radar for applications like monitoring flooding, pollution, and landslides. The document also discusses future directions including digital beamforming, dual-antenna interferometry, and developing sub-meter resolution multimode SAR instruments.

1. Earth Observation Systems
Evolution from ERS & ENVISATI
to GMES.
Road-Map towards 3rd
Generation RADAR Observation
Systems OPEN

2. 2003:
MARS EXPRESS
2003:
MARS EXPRESS
1991: ERS-1
1995: ERS-2
1991: ERS-1
1995: ERS-2
1994:
April SRL-1
October SRL-2
1994:
April SRL-1
October SRL-2
1997: CASSINI1997: CASSINI
2000: SRTM2000: SRTM
2002: ENVISAT2002: ENVISAT 2005: MRO2005: MRO
2007: COSMO-SkyMed2007: COSMO-SkyMed
Thales Alenia Space: 30 years
Excellence
in Space Radars
2013:
KOMPSAT
2013:
KOMPSAT

3. 27 July 1991
27 July 1991 7 March 2000
7 March 2000
45200 orbits
45200 orbits
1.4 million SAR scenes
1.4 million SAR scenes
3500 scientists
using the data
3500 scientists
using the data
A major EO milestone:
ERS-1 & SAR Interferometry
ERS-1 differential interferometry reaches
the cm precision («Bonn experiment»)
Demonstration with Landers earthquake
A major EO milestone:
ERS-1 & SAR Interferometry
ERS-1 differential interferometry reaches
the cm precision («Bonn experiment»)
Demonstration with Landers earthquake
ERS 1&2 (1991-2000): an European
Success

4. Arctic 2007
Hurricane
Katrina
B-15A
iceberg
Bam earthquake
Ozone hole 2003
Global air
pollution
Prestige tanker
oil slick
Dec 02
Validation
Workshop
Nov 03
MERIS Workshop
Calibration Review
Sep 02
First images
Mar 02
Launch
~2200
scientific
projects
Sep 04
Envisat
Symposium
Salzburg (A)
Sep 05
MERIS
(A)ATSR
W
orkshop
Dec 03
InSAR
Workshop
Chlorophyll
concentration
Dec 05
InSAR
W
orkshop
Mar 06
Altim
etry
Conference
+ several GMES
pre-operational
projects
May 06
Atm
ospheric
Science
Conference
Envisat
Symposium
Montreux (CH)
Apr 07
CO2 map
Dec 07
InSAR
W
orkshop
C-Band Advanced
SAR
H/V polarisation
capability
active antenna
array
C-Band Advanced
SAR
H/V polarisation
capability
active antenna
array
ENVISAT (2002-2011): from System to
Services

5. Coastal Real-time Ocean Ice Monitoring Northern View
Risk fire & flood Forest Monitoring Soil & Water Land Motion Risks
Urban Services Humanitarian Aid AtmosphereFood Security
COPERNICUS: The Service Portfolio
from ENVISAT experience

6. 4 nominal operation modes:
• stripmap (80km swath, res 10x10m)
• interferometric wide swath
(250km swath,res 20x20m)
• extra wide swath (400km swath, 50x50 m
res.)
• wave (20x20 m res.)
2300 Kg spacecraft mass
Sun synchronous orbit at 693
• 12 days repeat cycle
• 7/12 years design/consumables life time
Sentinel-1A: launch
2014
Sentinel-1A: launch
2014
Sentinel-1B:
foreseen 2015
Sentinel-1B:
foreseen 2015
Sentinel-1 C&D:TBD
Sentinel-1 C&D:TBD
Applications:
• monitoring sea ice zones and the arctic
environment
• surveillance of marine environment
• monitoring land surface motion risks
• mapping in support of humanitarian aid in
Applications:
• monitoring sea ice zones and the arctic
environment
• surveillance of marine environment
• monitoring land surface motion risks
• mapping in support of humanitarian aid in
crisis situations
Ref.:
19/06/13
COPERNICUS Sentinel-1 First
Generation

7. 12.3 m
21 m
Deployed Configuration
3.4 m
2.2
m
Stowed
Configuration
OPEN
COPERNICUS Sentinel-1 Satellite

8. Sentinel-1 has one main operational mode
(Interferometric Wide Swath mode) that:
• A complete global coverage within 12 days
• Preserve Revisit time performance on “high priority” areas (Maritime transport
zones and European coast)
• Satisfies most currently known service requirements
• Avoids conflicts and preserves revisit performance
• Provides robustness and reliability of service
• Simplifies mission planning & decreases operational costs
• Satisfies also tomorrow’s requests by building up a consistent long-term
archive
In Addition
•Mutually exclusive modes are provided for continuity reasons (w.r.t. ERS &
Envisat) and for accommodation of emerging user requirements
•Two mutually exclusive dual polarisation modes are provided
19/06/13
Ref.:
COPERNICUS Sentinel-1 Operational
Concept

9. OPEN
19/06/13
Ref.:
COPERNICUS Sentinel-1 Satellite
MissionParameter EWS IWS SM WV
Azimuth ResolutionAzimuth Resolution < 40 m< 40 m < 20 m< 20 m < 5 m< 5 m < 5 m< 5 m
Ground RangeGround Range
ResolutionResolution
< 20 m< 20 m < 5 m< 5 m < 5 m< 5 m < 5 m< 5 m
SwathSwath > 400 km> 400 km > 250 km> 250 km > 80 km> 80 km 20 x 20 km20 x 20 km

10. 19/06/13
Ref.:
S-1A Satellite
 Complete earth coverage within 12 days
 At least one access for each point
 70% of the globe after 6 days
 Maximum revisit time 12 days
 Average revisit time 8.4 days
S-1A + S-1B Satellites Constellation
 Complete earth coverage after 6 days
 All points are acquired twice within one orbit cycle
 Maximum revisit time 6 days
 Average revisit time 4.2 days
IWS mode on the earth surface and Maritime Transport
zones up to 25 minutes per orbit
WAVE on open oceans up to 59 minutes per orbit
OPEN
COPERNICUS Sentinel-1 Satellite
Scenario Performance

11. The Result of the largest Italian investment in Earth Observation that has
required more than ten years and about one thousand people working at all
levelsFirst and only “DUAL” system, built with state-of-the-art space technologies,
capable of both Civil and Scientific usage and Military Operational
exploitation
Thales Alenia Space have designed and built both Satellites
and System, with the active Telespazio support for the whole
Ground Segment
Contracted by Italian Space Agency and Ministry of Defence
and built with no cost variations during the whole
development and deployment life cycle
COSMO-SkyMed
COSMO SkyMed E2E System

12. COSMO SkyMed Satellite

13. 19/06/13
Ref.:
OPEN
The CSG Satellite: PRIMA fourth
generation

14. 19/06/13
Ref.:
• Flooding
• Pollution
• Earthquakes
• Landslides
• Vulcans
• Fire Damages
COSMO-SkyMed Main Applications

15. DTED-4 Hawaii (2012) – COSMO-1 Satellite / 16 days double passes
SCS_A co-registration DTED4_D
High Resolution INTERFEROMETRY

16. 19/06/13
Ref.:
Spaceborne RADAR’s for Earth observation have shown
an increasing and constant growth in the past 5 years
with the deployment of many important assets (e.g.
RADARSAT-2, TerraSAR-X, ALOS-PALSAR, and the
constellation of COSMO-SkyMed).
OPEN
On this track, new and more challenging programs are
reaching, these days, the development phases like the
COSMO-SkyMed second generation.
Terrasar-X
Radarsat
Cosmo Skymed
In parallel, research is on-going for the next generations of high performance
multi-mode SAR. The main innovative characteristics are in the fields of:
very high resolution;
high resolution wideswath multipolarization operation;
multi antenna interferometric systems also exploiting higher frequencies
like Ka-band.
Innovative concepts are the base to anticipate new market needs and to
support the development of the new products in the mid/long term period
Objectives & Goals

17. 19/06/13
Ref.:
Innovative concepts
Digital Beam Forming
Dual antenna interferometer in Ka-band
Ocean Surveillance
Very sub-metric Class Multimode SAR
New developments
COSMO SkyMed Second Generation
Compact SAR
OPEN
Road-Map to next Generation
SAR Instruments

18. 19/06/13
Ref.:
High resolution and wide swath coverage are contradicting requirements in SAR system design
On the other hand, many applications may profit of both high resolution and wide swath, e.g.
regular land use, vegetation mapping, marine observation, monitoring of Arctic sea ice, as well as
differential interferometry
Digital Beam Forming can be the solution:
separate transmit aperture to illuminate a large footprint on the ground
received signals of each sub-aperture are separately amplified, down-converted and digitized
OPEN
SAR & Digital Beam Forming

19. 19/06/13Ref.:
TAS-I is working at analysing the possibility to develop a Single Satellite Interferometric mission in Ka-
band.
The use of the Ka-band allows achieving good height information by maintaining a short baseline
between the two antennas, which can be embarked in a single satellite.
The selected configuration is such to provided both measurements in Along-track and Across-track
direction
Main applications for the Ka-band are:
High resolution DEM generation
Disaster monitoring
Urban areas monitoring
Oil spill
Ship detection and identification
OPEN
Multi-antenna SAR Interferometry in Ka
Band

20. 19/06/13Ref.:
Imaging sensors (SAR)
Imaged areas and resolutions programmable (10-500Km
swath @ 1 – 30 m resolution)
Exploitation technique
Wide swath: Ship positions (lat, long), Ship size
indication
High resolution: Ship size, Ship type indication from
shape analysis and wake characteristics, Heading &
Speed (from wake displacement and data
exploitation (phase processing)
Pre-operative stage in ATR tools supported by many
experimental projects (EC, Canada, Australia, Norway,
China, etc.)
Sub-surface
structures
Small boats
& wakes
OPEN
Ocean Surveillance

21. 19/06/13
Ref.:
MultiMode <<1m Class
 Active Phased Array Antenna
 Spotlight, Stripmap, ScanSAR
 Enhanced Sensitivity
 Very High Resolution
 High resolution wide-swath
 Single/Dual Pol Spotlight
 Full Pol STRIPMAP
Reference mass 600 ÷ 1000 kg
OPEN
Very sub-metric Class Multimode SAR

22. 19/06/13
Ref.:
In the area “new developments” are included those
projects in a design and/or development phase
New developments are typically carried-on in two
contests:
Active contracts with a specific Customer
Development of a new product to anticipate new
market neesd and to tackle potential customers
New developments represents the state-of-the-art in
terms of technology and performance and will be the
base of the product lines in the mid/long term period
OPEN
New developments

23. 19/06/13
Ref.:
OPEN
From COSMO-SkyMed to COSMO
Seconda Generazione

24. This document is not to be reproduced, modified, adapted, published, translated in any material form in whole or in part nor disclosed
to any third party without the prior written permission of Thales Alenia Space - © 2012, Thales Alenia Space
COSMO Second Generation Performance
• Improvement of Military operating mode
• Improvement of number of look
• Improvement of number of images from 450 to 550 (1100 taking into
account the polarisation)
• Full polarisation by STRIPMAP QUADPOL mode
19/06/13
24
Ref.:
Parameter SPOT
PING-
PONG
SCAN
STRIPMA
P
STRIPMA
P
QUADPOL
Single lookSingle look
ResolutionResolution
2A 0.8x0.8 m2A 0.8x0.8 m
2B 1x1 m2B 1x1 m
5X12 m5X12 m
11 4X20 m4X20 m
22 6X406X40
3x3 m3x3 m 3X3 m3X3 m
SwathSwath
2A 10X10 km2A 10X10 km
2B 10x10 km2B 10x10 km
30X30 km30X30 km
1 100x100 km1 100x100 km
2 200X200 km2 200X200 km
40X40 km40X40 km 15x40 km15x40 km

25. 19/06/13
Ref.:
Compact SAR concept based on:
Center-fed dual reflector antenna
Foldable Reflector (Reflector Antenna Assembly
Feed Array Assembly (active Phased Array).
Reference Performance:
Instrument mass < 250 kg
dc power consumption < 4 w
deployed antenna dimension, 5 m
Acquisition techniques
Stripmap
Spotlight
Stripmap:
Swath: 20-40 km
Resolution: 2-4m
Access Area: 20°-55°
Spotlight:
Swath: 5-10 km
Resolution: < 1m
Access Area: 20°-55°
OPEN
Compact SAR

26. 19/06/13
Ref.:
The Excellence in Space
Radars
OPEN

27. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
Large Scale Land Planning

28. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
Daily observation on Polar RoutesDaily observation on Polar Routes
over North-West e Nord-East Passagesover North-West e Nord-East Passages
(50% daily capability on near polar area)(50% daily capability on near polar area)

29. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
Not Identified Vessels
Identified Vessels using
AIS e VMS systems
Maritime Surveillance
Support to Conventional Systems

30. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
Earth Emergency & Monitoring
Hydrocarbons Pollution

31. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
FLOODS & FLOODINGS
Operational Damage Assessment

32. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
Landslides, Earthquakes & Land Stability

33. 87201590-QCI-TAS-EN/001
COSMO-SkyMed
regularly Monitors
whole National Territory under
ASI and Civil Protection
over sighting control
at least twice per month
with large Data Availability,
continuously updated for any possible need,
CSK system operational capability allows
the development and refinement of
advanced applications and analysis techniques
Fast and ReliableFast and Reliable