WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument X-SAR (PIESAT)

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Instrument: X-SAR (PIESAT)

Instrument details

Acronym	X-SAR (PIESAT)
Full name	PIESAT X-Band SAR
Purpose	High resolution mapping for land surface including elevation information.
Short description	X-band interferometric synthetic aperture radars (InSAR) on each of the 4 satellites in the constellation.
Background	New development to demonstrate capabilities of a constellation of X-Band SARs to obtain elevation information.
Scanning Technique	Up to 80 km swath width.
Resolution	0.5m in single star spotlight mode.
Coverage / Cycle	Between 82.5° north and south latitude within one year.
Mass		Power	Data Rate

Providing Agency	CASC
Instrument Maturity	Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period:	2023 to 2034
Last update:	2023-08-07

Detailed characteristics

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

NUWA-1 SAR Constellation (CASC)
- PIESAT-1 (see instrument status) Mar 2023 - 2033
- PIESAT-2 (see instrument status) Dec 2024 - 2034

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
Land surface topography

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