Shootin' the Pipe around the World: Orbit Design and Maintenance for L-Band SAR Radar Interferometry

Abstract

The NISAR mission is a proposed joint mission of the space agencies of India and the United States. It would use L-band SAR radar interferometry to measure very small changes in the topography of the Earth including ice sheets. The use of interferometry places more stringent requirements on the orbit design and maintenance of this mission than any earlier robotic mission in either agency has had to meet. This paper discusses how the requirements led to the orbit design and outlines orbit maintenance strategies to meet the orbit requirements.