The NASA/JPL Multifrequency, Multipolarisation Airborne SAR System

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has designed, built and tested a new suite of polarimetric synthetic aperture radars, operating at L-, C- and P-Band. The three radars have been designed to replace and upgrade the system that was destroyed in an accident in 1985. A series of ground and flight tests have been conducted out of Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California during JanuaryFebruary of 1988 and the radar has flown over the Goldstone Calibration site in a sequence of experiments designed to calibrate the system. The radar has also taken part in a series of science campaigns in Alaska, California, Arizona and the East Coast of the USA. This paper will describe this new imaging radar system for the benefit of the user community.