WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument X-SAR

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Instrument: X-SAR

Instrument details

Acronym	X-SAR
Full name	X-SAR
Purpose	High-resolution all-weather imager for ocean, land and ice with focus on Asian cities.
Short description	X-band SAR, frequency 9.65 GHz and variable swath/resolution [see detailed characteristics below]. Polarisation VV.
Background	New development to demonstrate X-Band SARs on a mini-satellite.
Scanning Technique	Swath width 10 to 30 km. See table below for options. Off nadir pointing between 15 and 45 deg.
Resolution	1 - 3 m (see table)
Coverage / Cycle	Coverage increases with number of satellites. 1 day repeat cycle for 6 satellites.
Mass	100 kg	Power	Data Rate

Providing Agency	Synspective
Instrument Maturity	Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:	2021 to 2032
Last update:	2024-03-13

Detailed characteristics

Operation mode	Resolution	Swath	Polarisation
Spotlight	1 m	10 km	VV
Stripmap	3 m	30 km	VV

Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

StriX (Synspective)
- StriX-α (see instrument status) Mar 2021 - 2024
- StriX-β (see instrument status) May 2022 - 2032
- StriX-1 (see instrument status) Nov 2022 - Nov 2031
- StriX-3 (see instrument status) May 2024 - 2029
- StriX-4 (see instrument status) Aug 2024 - 2028
- StriX-6 (see instrument status) Feb 2025 - 2028

Instrument classification

Earth observation instrument
Active and radio-occultation sensor
Imaging radar (SAR)

WIGOS Subcomponents

Subcomponent 4
SAR constellation (commercial)
SAR constellation (commercial)

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Land cover

Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
Fire fractional cover	3 - high	Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR. High resolution, for fire boundary detection
Fraction of vegetated land	3 - high	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR
Glacier cover	2 - very high	Long time for mapping.	X-band SAR for accurate boundary detection
Glacier motion	5 - marginal	Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Glacier topography	3 - high	Long time for mapping.	X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Ice sheet topography	3 - high	Long time for mapping.	X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Land cover*	3 - high	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR
Land surface topography	3 - high	Long time for mapping.	X-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Oil spill cover	1 - primary	Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR
Sea-ice cover	1 - primary	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR
Sea-ice elevation	4 - fair	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry
Sea-ice thickness	4 - fair	Change detection only.	X-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry. Thickness inferred by ice model
Sea-ice type	2 - very high	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR. Type interpreted as age/roughness
Snow cover	3 - high	Thick snow only.. Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR
Snow status (wet/dry)	4 - fair	Thick snow only.. Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR
Snow water equivalent	3 - high	Change detection only.. Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR. SWE is retrieved by grigging with data from ground networks
Soil moisture at surface	3 - high	Strongly affected by vegetation.. Infrequent coverage.	X-band SAR
Soil type	3 - high	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR
Vegetation type	5 - marginal	No specific limitation.	X-band SAR