NASA's L-Band Imaging Scatterometer

The L-Band Imaging Scatterometer (LIS) is an airborne radar developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center which combines electronic beam steering and digital beamforming allowing the implementation of different scanning techniques. The LIS efforts are part of the RadSTAR initiative intended to develop the technology that will enable a combined radar/radiometer system that jointly uses a single, dual frequency antenna with cross-track scanning capabilities, but no moving parts. The new technology will enable single aperture measurements of important Earth Science Enterprise climate applications such as ocean salinity, soil moisture, sea ice, and surface water among others. The LIS instrument will be flown along with existing NASA Synthetic Thinned Array Radiometers (STAR) in order to prove the concept of coregistered data and to provide a prototype for a spaceborne, single aperture radar/radiometer system.