ORBIT, PERFORMANCE AND OBSERVATION SCENARIOS FOR ESA’S EARTH EXPLORER MISSION PROPOSAL HYDROTERRA

Abstract

Hydroterra has been considered as one of three candidates for ESA’s Earth Explorer 10 mission, and consists ofa geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Radar to measure key processes of the diurnal water cycle. These measurements are expected to improve the prediction of intense rainfall, flooding and landslides. This concept was the subject of Phase 0 studies, in which the mission requirements were consolidated and initial system design possibilities were investigated. This paper summarizes some of the elements of the mission concept contributing to the requirement consolidation process, namely the orbit design aspects, with focus on potential sub-sidereal interferometric capabilities, and the optimization performed in the bandwidth/integration time tradespace to define the operational scenarios and coverage zones, which are key inputs for the mission design.