Technical Note on Quality Assessment for NovaSAR

NovaSAR-1 is a small SAR mission from the cooperation of SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.) and Airbus DS UK, funded by the UK Government via the UKSA (UK Space Agency). The S-band (3.1-3.3 GHz, wavelength of ~ 10 cm) antenna is a micro-strip patch phased array of ~ 3 m x 1 m in size. The payload can transmit and receive on both horizontal and vertical polarizations. NovaSAR-1 was launched in 2018 and operates in a sun-synchronous orbit at 580km with an LTAN (Local Time of the Ascending Node) of 10:30. The repeat cycle is approximately 16 days. NovaSAR-1 can be operated in the following modes: Stripmap (6 m resolution, 20 km swath), ScanSAR (20 m resolution, up to 100 km swath), ScanSAR Wide (30-50 m resolution, up to 190 km swath) and experimental maritime ship detection mode (30m resolution, extended swath of >400km). L2 ARD products are also generated from L1 products. The EDAP+ assessment covers L1 Stripmap and ScanSAR modes and L2 ARD products.