The microwave payload for the ESA Remote Sensing Satellite /ERS-1/

The instruments for the planned first European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) are discussed, describing their main specifications, indicating their measurement principles, and describing their basic design. The active microwave instrumentation (AMI) is an all C-band sensor that can be operated in an SAR imaging mode over land, ice, and coastal areas, and in a wind scatterometer mode, a wave scatterometer mode, and an interleaved wind and wave scatterometer mode over the oceans. Each of these modes is discussed, giving such specifications as spatial resolution, swath, incidence angle, frequency, mean RF power, data rate, antenna size, power consumption, and polarization. The radar altimeter (RA) is also discussed, and its specifications are given. The microwave payload and the ERS-1 program schedule are presented, block diagrams of the AMI and the RA are shown, and a possible inflight configuration for ERS-1 is depicted.