NovaSAR-1 Operational Updates and its Analysis Ready Data Production

Launched in September 2018, NovaSAR-1 is a technology demonstrator by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, UK (SSTL), and Airbus Defence and Space Ltd. The NovaSAR1 satellite utilises the only currently operational spaceborne S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) providing medium and high-resolution images of Earth from space. Australia has secured a 10% capacity share in this mission, providing the nation with a first-ever sovereign civilian Earth observation satellite capability. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research organisation (CSIRO) operates this service as a National Facility for research, supporting science projects that are scoping the application of S-band SAR to terrestrial and marine environments. To make data from the mission accessible to non-expert users, CSIRO has developed NovaSAR-1 Analysis Ready Data (ARD) for the Normalised Radar Backscatter (NRB) product that is compliant with specifications set by the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS: CEOS-ARD NRB Product Family Specification v5.5). This paper provides CSIRO’s NovaSAR-1 operational updates, describes NovaSAR-1 ARD production with per-pixel metadata, and demonstrates early applications of NovaSAR-1 ARD products.