While traditional optical imaging satellites require sunlight and cloudless skies, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) active microwave sensors transmit electromagnetic pulses and capture backscattered signals, allowing 24/7 all-weather Earth imaging.
To achieve high resolution with radar, a physically massive antenna (several kilometers long) is theoretically required. SAR solves this by utilizing the satellite's forward orbital motion (7.6 km/s) to synthetically combine radar pulses over time, creating a virtual kilometers-wide antenna aperture in software.
X-band (PAZ) delivers sub-meter resolution for urban infrastructure; C-band monitors oceans and sea ice; and L-band (SAOCOM / ALOS-2) penetrates dense forest canopies to measure soil moisture and subterranean fault displacements.
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