Technical Note for Capella Data Assessment

Capella Space is a U.S. based company, founded in 2016. Capella designs, manufacturers, and operates SAR satellites for all weather, 24/7 Earth observation. In 2023 Capella is launching its third generation “Acadia” satellites that will deliver the highest quality, high-resolution commercial SAR imagery on the market. Each Capella Space satellite features an X-band SAR instrument, which operates with a bandwidth from 500 MHz up to 700MHz. This single-polarized instrument allows for imaging in various modes including spotlight, stripmap, and sliding spotlight. In certain modes the user can select the image size and is able to trade resolution for image quality, which enables a variety of uses including monitoring military threats, observing glacial meltwater dynamics, coordinating disaster response, detecting vessels at sea and persistent global change monitoring. The constellation provides SAR images with very fine spatial resolution, ranging from 0.25 m up to 1.2 m. The scene coverage goes from 5 x 5 km up to 5 x 20 km. Capella’s SAR products are accessible through the fully automated online platform and flexible API that allows users to directly place tasks and download imagery. The TN provides the results of the Capella products assessemnt in terms of products format, point target data parameters, Rain Forest radiometric profiles and Noise Equivalent Sigma Zero (NESZ) level assessment.