Overview of the TECSAR Satellite Hardware and Mosaic Mode

TECSAR satellite is part of a spaceborne synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) satellite technology demonstration program. The purpose of this program is to develop and evaluate the technologies required to achieve high-resolution images combined with large-area coverage. These requirements can be fulfilled by designing a satellite with multimode operation. The TECSAR satellite is developed by the MBT Space Division, Israel Aerospace Industries, acting as a prime contractor, which develops the satellite bus, and by ELTA Systems Ltd., which develops the SAR payload. This paper reviews the TECSAR radar system design, which enables to perform a variety of operational modes. It also describes the unique hardware components: deployable parabolic mesh antenna, multitube transmitter, and data-link transmission unit. The unique mosaic mode is presented. It is shown that this mode is the spot version of the scan mode.