Conceptual study of lunar-based SAR for global change monitoring

As an active microwave remote sensing imaging sensor, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) plays an important role in earth observation. Here we establish a SAR system based on the platform of the moon. This will aid large-scale, constant, and long-term dynamic Earth observations to better meet the needs of global change research and to complement the space borne and airborne earth observations. Lunar-based SAR systems have the characteristics of high resolution and wide swath width. The swath width could be thousands of kilometers in the stripe mode and it could cover 40% of earth’s surface with 10 meters or even higher spatial resolution in the scanning mode. Using the simplified observation model, here we quantitatively analyze the spatial resolution and coverage area of lunar-based SAR and simulate the observation on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and the Amazon plain. The results show that this system could provide near 100% daily coverage of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, whereas 40% to 70% daily coverage of the Amazon plain. Lunar-based SAR could provide large-scale, long-term and stable time series data in order to support future research of global change.