The European Space Agency s Synthetic Aperture Radar Programme From Experiment to Service Provision

Transcription

1 The European Space Agency s Synthetic Aperture Radar Programme From Experiment to Service Provision Evert Attema ESA, Directorate of Earth Observation Programme! The idea of an independent European space agency dates back to the early 1960 s. ESA was formed in 1975, replacing the satellite and launcher organisations ESRO and ELDO. Today ESA has 17 Member States.

2 ESA Member States ESA has 17 Member States : Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania are European Cooperating States. Canada takes part in some projects under a cooperation agreement.

3 Overview A Story of 30 Years Preparatory Phase Objectives Mission selection Seasat Phase 1 ERS-1 Technology works (with high accuracy) First Images: Ocean, Land, Ice Time dimension & colour Interferometry Phase 2 ERS-2 More colour Tandem Operation Phase 3 Envisat Wide Swath Polarisation Next Step: GMES Sentinel-1 Different Co-Funding User-driven Level-2 and Services

4 Preparatory Phase 1974 ESA Working Group Commercial Applications Agriculture Land Use Water Resources Overseas Aid Resource Exploitation Earth Science Objectives Climate Dynamics Possible Human Influences Selection of Missions (all including SAR) GOMSS (Global Ocean Monitoring Satellite System) LASS (Land Applications Satellite System) COMSS (Coastal Ocean Monitoring Satellite System)

5 SEASAT 1978

6 ERS , it works!

7 ERS-1 sees Land, Ocean, Ice

8 ERS-1 in Colour Handicraft Algorithm

9 Multi-temporal ERS-1 Image

10 Interferometry Surface Elevation and Movement

11 Interferometry, Subsidence

12 From ERS-1 to ERS-2 in 1995 ERS-1 C-band Moderate Swath Moderate Resolution Single Polarisation (VV) Successful Operations Excellent Data Quality Impressive Application Development Emerging Market ERS-2 C-band Continuity of Data Supply Tandem Operation Importance of Temporal Dimension

13 Interferometric ERS Image

14 Exploitation of Tandem Data

15 From ERS to Envisat in 2002 ASAR New Technology C-band Wide Swath Moderate Resolution Polarisation Choice Successful Operations Excellent Data Quality Impressive Application Development Emerging Market

16 Envisat Wide Swath

17 Envisat Dual Polarisation

18 ENVISAT Mission Since Launch First images scientific projects Global air pollution Bam earthquake First image via Artemis Hurricane Katrina Tectonic uplift (Andaman) Ozone hole pre-operational activities for GMES Chlorophyll concentration Launch Prestige tanker Mar 02 Calibration Review Sep 02 SAR Interferometry Workshop Validation Workshop MERIS Workshop Dec 02 Nov 03 R&D Dec 03 B-15A iceberg Envisat Symposium Sept 04 MERIS / (A)ATSR Workshop Sep 05 SAR Interferometry Workshop Atmospheric Science Conference Dec 05 Operations May 06

19 What is next: GMES Research & Development Different (More) Wavelengths Higher Resolution/wider Swath Polarimetry Applications Development Sustainable Systems Driven by End User Requirements Information Products and Service Provision Improved Revisit and Timeliness Long-term Dependable Services Different Funding Scenario

20 GMES Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) aims at developing operational services, following the example of meteorology but for other domains such as emergency management, air quality monitoring, land monitoring and ocean & sea ice monitoring. However research & development will be needed to create and continuously improve operational services.

21 GMES Dedicated Missions Sentinel 1 SAR imaging 2011 Sentinel 2 Multi-spectral imaging 2012 Sentinel 3 Ocean and global land monitoring 2012 Sentinel 4 Geostationary atmosphere monitoring Sentinel 5 Low-orbit atmosphere monitoring 2019+

22 Sentinel-1 Mission Objectives Provision of C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar Coverage and Repeat Observation to Completely Cover: q the world s land masses on a bi-weekly basis; q Arctic, Antarctic, coastal zones and shipping routes on a daily basis; q open ocean continuously by imagettes.

23 Long-term Service Provision SENTINEL-1A SENTINEL-1B SENTINEL-1C SENTINEL-1D SENTINEL-1E SENTINEL-1F Sentinel-1 Proven Technology (with innovation) C-band Wide Swath Moderate Resolution Dual Polarisation A main operational mode satisfies most currently known service requirements avoids conflicts and preserves revisit performance provides robustness and reliability of service simplifies mission planning & decreases operational costs satisfies also tomorrow s requests by building up a consistent long-term archive GMES Space Component Long-term Scenario

24 Conclusion The programme of EUSAR 2008 proves that we have entered the Golden Age of SAR. The European Space Agency has contributed to this development for over 30 years and has the intention to continue SAR innovation as well as consolidation of SAR data provision for operational services.