The proposed DESDynI mission - From science to implementation

The proposed DESDynI mission is being planned by NASA to study earth change in three distinct disciplines ecosystems, solid earth, and cryospheric sciences. DESDynI would provide unique and unprecedented capabilities to the science community, with an imaging L-band radar proposed to include new modes and observational techniques, and a first-of a-kind multi-beam lidar for measuring canopy height metrics at fine spatial resolution. Under current planning scenarios, DESDynI could be ready to launch in 2017. In this paper, we describe the science objectives, how these lead to the measurements that achieve these objectives, and how these requirements lead to a mission design. The properties of the radar are then described, including a number of new radar modes and capabilities such as "SweepSAR" scan-on-receive techniques and split-spectrum acquisitions in single and multi pol configurations.