NASA Expands Commercial Data Acquisition Program with Airbus

(06 Dec 2021)  NASA has expanded the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program (CSDAP) to include Airbus as the first radar data provider to NASA’s community of researchers and scientists for evaluation to determine the utility for advancing NASA’s science and application goals.

Airbus will provide CSDAP with a comprehensive catalog of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Earth observation data products to help address various research challenges.

The CSDAP strives to identify, evaluate and acquire data from commercial sources that support NASA’s Earth science research and application activities.

Singapore Strait TerraSAR-X image. Picture: Airbus

The Radar Constellation will offer unmatched geometric accuracy, with high temporal and spatial resolution to provide precise information on any point on Earth – independent of cloud cover and weather conditions.

The constellation consists of three commercially available radar sensors (the German TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X satellite formation and the Spanish PAZ satellite, owned and managed by Hisdesat) that can provide resolution from 25cm to 40m with six imaging modes and an up to 12-hour revisit time.

“We are honored to provide our unique radar datasets and services to the NASA research community to support their activities,” said François Lombard, Head of Intelligence business at Airbus Defence and Space. “We are looking forward to seeing how this will support the research work of some of the top-minded scientists in the world.”

Radar data provides unique value to various applications such as: monitoring drift ice in regions without daylight, detecting surface movement information in oil and gas fields, monitoring ship traffic and providing detection and identification of objects.