Sentinel-1 Mission Analysis

Mission Analysis for an Earth Observation satellite system is the process defining high-level mission/system requirements and subsequent system design based on user needs and mission objectives. Mission analysis is a necessary tool to interpret the mission/system requirements and to ensure their implementation during the overall system engineering process related to space, ground and operations segments. An overview of the GMES Sentinel-1 mission analysis is reported in this paper, which focuses on the main features characterising the C-band SAR satellite system. The following topics are discussed in some detail, in order to show the relationships between mission/system requirements and the system engineering implications: - Orbital control - Operational scenarios - Data volume and system latency