Multi-Satellite SAR Missions in Earth Orbit: Programs and Studies
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 48
Special Issue Editors
Interests: SAR mission analysis and design; constellations; formations; mission simulation; orbit design; SAR perfomance analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Synthetic Aperture Radars have been operating in the Earth’s orbit since the L-band Seasat mission in 1978. For almost 30 years, only a few SAR satellites were launched. However, this began increasing from 2006 and accelerated significantly after 2018, with 111 out of 168 satellites launched since 2019. SAR satellites can be broadly classified—albeit with some exceptions—into three classes: (a) classical SAR satellites (mass of a few tons) with large rectangular antennas (mostly active phased arrays); (b) smaller satellites (mass of less than one ton) with parabolic reflector antennas; and (c) microsatellite spacecraft (mass below 100 kg/200 kg) with either parabolic reflector or active phased array antennas. Satellites of the latter class (e.g., Capella, ICEYE) are typically designed to work in constellation to improve temporal resolution and are responsible for the large increment of the number of orbiting SAR satellites (74 out of 168). In addition to constellations, SAR satellites could work in formation to implement distributed radar payload (e.g., TanDEM‑X).
The aim of this Special Issue is to explore programs and studies of multiple SAR systems, with satellites operating either in constellation or in formation. Systems with low-mass satellites are particularly solicited; however, contributions focused on larger satellites are also welcome.
Studies of interest include those addressing the design and implementation of multiple SAR systems. Below are a few examples:
- Applications that could benefit from a multi-satellite approach;
- Mission design for multiple SAR systems;
- Design of distributed SAR;
- Modular approach to satellite and system design;
- Advanced antenna concepts;
- Algorithms to synthetize radar images or final user products from multiple radar signals.
Prof. Dr. Marco D’Errico
Prof. Dr. Alfredo Renga
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mission design
- small-satellite design
- formation
- constellation
- distributed radar
- SAR processing
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