Passive Interferometric Ocean Currents Observation Synthetic Aperture Radar (PICOSAR)

Abstract

This paper describes PICOSAR (Passive Interferometric ocean Currents Observation Synthetic Aperture Radar), a concept consisting of two small, low-cost and low power spacecraft carrying a passive, receive-only SAR payload. PICOSAR enhances the functionality of a full SAR system such as Sentinel-1 or TerraSAR-X by adding a unique along-track interferometer dedicated to ocean surface current measurements. The passive nature of this system and the focus on a single application and single operation mode allows the implementation of PICOSAR using a very cost effective payload design and the use of a compact and low-cost micro-satellite bus. Besides the clear scientific value of PICOSAR, it would also foster the development of several key technologies: micro-satellite architectures, autonomous formation flying, and multi-static SAR constellations.