External Calibration Results of the SAOCOM-1A Commissioning Phase

SAOCOM is a scientific and commercial mission developed by CONAE, the National Space Commission of Argentina. It is composed of two identical satellites, each one carrying a fully polarimetric L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The main driver of the mission is the retrieval of soil moisture, an application that demands high radiometric and polarimetric accuracy. In this article, we summarize the main external calibration results obtained during the commissioning phase of the SAOCOM-1A satellite. In addition, the general calibration strategy as well as the devices and facilities that were involved in the external calibration process are described.