Lunar-based synthetic aperture radar: Preliminary system design and performance analysis

Lunar-based SAR, as a relatively new concept, have some potential in spatial continuity observation and other characters. Different from current spaceborne SAR systems, the lunar orbit is much higher. A relatively low resolution for earth area observation could be a applied observation mode of lunar-based SAR which can avoid the north-south ambiguity when lunar-based SAR treated as a kind of planet radar. This paper studies the Doppler characteristics of the lunar-based SAR using numerical simulation. Then a preliminary design of lunar-based SAR id given to show its potential and some limitations. Simulation indicates that lunar-based SAR is qualified in wide swath Earth observation but have some limitations for system implementation currently.