Advancing Australia’s Imaging Radar Capability Under the Novasar-1 Partnership

NovaSAR-1 is a technology demonstrator by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, UK (SSTL), and Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, funded by the UK Government via the UK Space Agency (UKSA). The NovaSAR-1 satellite utilises S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) providing medium and high resolution images of Earth from space. In September 2017, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) became a partner with the UK and India in the NovaSAR-1 mission through a 10 percent time-share [1]. The agreement allows CSIRO to direct the NovaSAR-1 satellite to collect data imagery on a world-wide basis through a range of observation modes with priority over the Australian region for the duration of the 7 year mission. CSIRO has designed a detailed background-, and foreground acquisition strategy for our share of the NovaSAR-1 satellite. This will provide at least two annual wall-to-wall coverages of Australia’s landmass as well as supporting a wide range of existing research and basic satellite data acquisition training, to further develop Australia’s Earth observation data analytics expertise, and create new opportunities in the field of remote sensing.