Copernicus HPCM: ROSE-L SAR Instrument and Performance Overview

Abstract:
In this contribution, an overview of the instrument and the performance of the Radar Observation System for Europe in L-Band (ROSE-L) one of the additions to ESA’s Copernicus programs is presented. ROSE-L is one of the first spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments utilizing digital beamforming (DBF) techniques in both azimuth and elevation direction of the antenna. To resolve the high swath width high resolution contradiction of conventional SAR the Multiple-Azimuth-Phase-Center-Sampling (MAPS) technique with five digital channels is utilized, while the sensitivity is enhanced by applying the Scan-On-Receive (SCORE) concept. This submission gives an overview of the current mode design as well as the corresponding performance parameters.