Digital Beamforming has gained significant importance in radar applications in the past years. It helps improve radar performance while reducing mass and power. Improving these figures becomes even more important for space applications. The Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar (SESAR) is a novel P-band (70 cm wavelength) radar instrument developed for planetary applications that will enable surface and near-subsurface measurements of Solar System planetary bodies. The radar will measure full polarimetry at meter-scale resolution, and perform beam steering through programmable digital beamforming architecture. The data obtained with SESAR will provide key information on buried ice and water signatures that can facilitate the design of future human and robotic exploration missions. In this paper we describe SESAR’s large antenna array, the sub-systems integration process, and the different environmental testing activities performed to the overall system in order to raise the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) for its future inclusion in a space-proven system.

The Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar (SESAR) is a P-band radar instrument for planetary applications being developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This radar will enable unprecedented surface and near-subsurface measurements of planetary bodies including the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. The radar will measure full polarimetry at meter-scale resolution while featuring a low power, lightweight, beamforming design, specifically developed to meet stringent requirements of planetary instruments. The ongoing prototype development is maturing the SESAR technology for upcoming planetary mission opportunities.

The Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar (SESAR) is an advanced P-band beamforming radar instrument concept to enable a new class of observations suitable to meet multiple Decadal Survey science goals for planetary exploration. The radar is capable of providing unprecedented surface and near-subsurface measurements at full polarimetry and fine (meter scale) resolution, and achieves beam agility through programmable waveform generation and digital beamforming. The radar's highly flexible modular architecture employs a novel low power, lightweight design approach to meet stringent planetary instrument requirements, all while minimizing cost and development time.

The Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar is a new radar instrument development for planetary applications that will enable unprecedented surface and near-subsurface measurements of planetary bodies including the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. The radar is based on an advanced multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture that operates in the P-band (70 cm wavelength), measures full polarimetry at meter scale resolution, and achieves beam agility through programmable digital beamforming. The radar is based on a low power, lightweight, modular design approach specifically developed to meet stringent launch and operation requirements of planetary instruments. Prototype SESAR subsystems have been developed and tested, and a recent MATISSE (Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration) proposal was awarded to build and test a functional radar panel.

Introduction: The near-surface of Solar System objects – the upper tens of meters – contain key information about their geologic evolution. These upper layers can contain ice deposits, layers from prior episodes of volcanism, buried fluvial channels, former lake deposits, buried boulders from impacts, caves, or resources. This near-surface region is close enough to the surface to be accessible to future human or robotic explorers and contains information important to understanding surface evolution. We are developing a next-generation orbital digital beamforming synthetic aperture radar, called Space Exploration SAR (SESAR), that will provide science data at depths and resolutions that are well-matched to nearsurface science objectives (Fig. 1). SESAR will operate at P-band (70 cm) wavelengths and use high bandwidths (100 MHz) to achieve meter to tens of meter scale spatial resolutions with full polarimetry.

SESAR (Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a next generation P-band beamforming radar instrument concept that will enable a new class of observations suitable to meet Decadal Survey science goals for planetary exploration. The radar operates at full polarimetry and fine (meter scale) resolution, and achieves beam agility through programmable transmit waveforms and digital beamforming on receive. The radar is based on a low power, lightweight design approach conceived to meet the stringent planetary instrument requirements. This instrument concept has the potential to provide unprecedented surface and near-subsurface measurements of planetary bodies including the Moon, Mars, and asteroids.

The Space Exploration Synthetic Aperture Radar (SESAR) is an advanced P-band beamforming radar instrument concept to enable a new class of observations suitable to meet Decadal Survey science goals for planetary exploration. The radar operates at full polarimetry and fine (meter scale) resolution, and achieves beam agility through programmable waveform generation and digital beamforming. The radar architecture employs a novel low power, lightweight design approach to meet stringent planetary instrument requirements. This instrument concept has the potential to provide unprecedented surface and near-subsurface measurements applicable to multiple Decadal Survey Science Goals.

Advanced Digital Beamforming (DBF) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology is an area of research and development pursued at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Advanced SAR architectures enhances radar performance and opens a new set of capabilities in radar remote sensing. DBSAR-2 and EcoSAR are two state-of-the-art radar systems recently developed and tested. These new instruments employ multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) architectures characterized by multi-mode operation, software defined waveform generation, digital beamforming, and configurable radar parameters. The instruments have been developed to support several disciplines in Earth and Planetary sciences. This paper describes the radars advanced features and report on the latest SAR processing and calibration efforts.

EcoSAR is an advanced airborne polarimetric and "single pass" interferometric P-band (435 MHz) SAR instrument developed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The instrument was designed to provide two-and three-dimensional fine scale measurements of terrestrial ecosystem structure and biomass, relevant to the study of the carbon cycle and its relationship to climate change. EcoSAR fisrt test flights and science campaign took place in late March 2014 aboard a NOAA P3 aircraft, conducting measurements over areas of the Bahamas and Costa Rica.

EcoSAR is a new synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument being developed at the NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for the polarimetric and interferometric measurements of ecosystem structure and biomass. The instrument uses a phased-array beamforming architecture and supports full polarimetric measurements and single pass interferometry. This Instrument development is part of NASA's Earth Science Technology Office Instrument Incubator Program (ESTO IIP).