NASA has expanded its Smallsat Commercial Data Acquisition Program (CSDAP) to include Airbus as the first provider of radar data to the North American space agency community of researchers and scientists for evaluation to determine usefulness for the advancement of NASA’s science and enforcement goals.
Airbus will provide you with a comprehensive catalog of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Earth observation data products to help address various research challenges.
CSDAP strives to identify, evaluate, and acquire data from commercial sources that support NASA’s Earth science research and application activities. The radar constellation will offer unmatched geometric precision, with high temporal and spatial resolution to provide accurate information about any point on Earth, regardless of cloud cover and weather conditions.
“We are honored to provide our unique radar data sets and services to NASA’s research community to support their activities,” said François Lombard, director of intelligence business for Airbus Defense and Space. “We look forward to seeing how this will support the research work of some of the world’s leading scientists.”
Radar data provides unique value to various applications , such as monitoring drift ice in non-daylight regions, detecting surface motion information in oil and gas fields, monitoring ship traffic, and providing detection and identification of objects.
The radar constellation consists of three commercially available radar sensors (the German satellite array TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X and the Spanish PAZ satellite, owned and operated by Hisdesat, which can provide a resolution of 25 centimeters at 40 meters with six Picture modes and a maximum Review Time of 12 hours.