SIR-B-The Second Shuttle Imaging Radar Experiment
- Creators
- Cimino, JoBea
- Elachi, Charles
- Settle, Mark
Abstract
On October 5, 1984, the second Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-B) was launched into orbit aboard the space shuttle Challenger. SIR-B is part of an evolutionary radar program designed to progressively develop a multifrequency, multipolarization synthetic aperture radar with a variable Earth-imaging geometry. The SIR-B instrument is an upgraded version of SIR-A, with the additional capability of tilting the antenna mechanically to acquire imagery at variable incidence angles ranging from 15°to 60°.The variable look angle capability provided a means of acquiring multiple incidence angle imagery over specific targets on successive days of the mission. These data are being used to classify surface features by their backscatter signatures as a function of incidence angle and for topographic mapping. In addition to the antenna tilt capability, a digital data-handling system was added to increase the dynamic range, the resolution was improved by a factor of two over SIR-A, and a calibration subsystem was added to improve the radiometric accuracy of the data. The mission had a number of problems, including loss of the primary mary digital data path between the shuttle and the ground. In spite of these problems, approximately 20 percent of the planned digital data were collected over the 8-day shuttle mission corresponding to an areal coverage of about 6.4 million km^2.
Additional Information
© 1986 IEEE. Manuscript received November 22, 1985; revised February 5, 1986. This work was supported by NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications. As in every major experiment involving complicated sensors, success results from a team effort involving numerous people. We would like to acknowledge our colleagues at JPL and JSC who designed, developed, tested, and operated the SIR-B sensor. In particular, we acknowledge the efforts of E. Caro (Task Manager), B. Huneycutt (Cognizant Engineer), S. Wall, J. Curlander, M. Ruzek, B. Holt, and numerous other people at JPL who were part of the SIR-B implementation and operation team. We would like to acknowledge the support of the many people at JSC, particularly R. Baldwin, L. Godwin, H. Nitschke and the 41-G crew, and at NASA Headquarters, particularly S. Tilford, R. Monson, and L. Demas.Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 93444
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190304-133515397
- NASA
- Created
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2019-03-04Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences