Trends in SAR Satellite Design: From Tons of Mass to Hundreds of Kilograms in Designing SAR Satellite

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites have been used for almost 50 years. Over the years there has been a dramatic reduction in the size and mass of space-borne systems as well as operational techniques. Typically, very high ground resolution imaging requires very large satellites of several tons, while constellation of affordable small satellites provide very high temporal resolution. The present paper reviews spaceborne SAR system design constraints and orbit types to point out the challenges of designing a micro SAR satellite and discusses some solutions to them.