Spatiotemporal Variation of Imaging Swath in Earth Observing Lunar-Based SAR Under Orbital Perturbations

We analyzed the spatiotemporal variations of the imaging swath and region using the lunar-based synthetic aperture radar (LBSAR) for Earth observation. The ground and slant swaths following the Earth-observing geometry and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) configurations were formulated. The bounds of the imaging swath were highlighted for appropriately configuring the LBSAR. The results suggested that the imaging swath is determined by the coupling of orbit elements, near-look angle, antenna beamwidth, and to some extent by the Earth’s ellipsoidal shape and LBSARs site location on the Moon’s surface. The side-looking direction, despite its modest impact on the imaging swath, plays a dominant role in ascertaining LBSARs imaging region. Furthermore, spatiotemporal variations of ground swath in various epochs were analyzed to emphasize the challenge and importance of characterizing Earth observation capability in the LBSAR.