ROSA: Radio Occultation Sounder Antenna for the Atmosphere

In the frame of a study funded by Italian space agency (ASI), Thales Alenia space Italia (TAS-I) has developed the ROSA instrument (radio occultation sounder for the atmosphere). The instrument (antenna + receiver) is designed to provide accurate vertical profiles of temperature, pressure and humidity of atmosphere in order to study the climatology and meteorology of the Earth and it is based on the available GPS signal passing trough the low atmosphere layers. In this paper, the ROSA antenna design and performances have been reported. (5 pages)