ASI:
Italian Space Agency
Band:
working frequency range of the antenna. For example the C-band cover the
frequencies between 4 and 8 GHz, the X-band between 8 and 12 GHz and so on.
DEM:
(Digital Elevation Model ) is a representation point by point of the surface height
obtained from Interferogram.
DEM 3D:
tri-dimensional view.
DL:
(Down Link) Transmission from the Space Shuttle to ground of only one radar
data. This event is possible even while the radar is performing data acquisition. With a
DL we can only produce an MRI image.
DLR:
(Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) German Space Agency.
DT:
(Data Take): Acquisition of data from both the inboard and outboard radar.
GPS:
Global Positioning System.
Interferogram:
the different colors represent the different phase values; the steeper the
slopes, the closer the fringes. Height contour levels can be inferred from fringes.
Interferometria:
Radar images elaboration technique which confront several images of the same area to
obtain better details. In particular, one can highlights the changes among different
images. It can be multitemporal or not: in the first case you confront and elaborate
images recorded in different times, otherwise (and that is the case of this mission) at
the same time you can obtain two images of the same area, which the Space Shuttle is
flying on, using two different antennas.
JPL:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
MET:
(Mission Elapsed Time) Time elapsed from the lift off.
MRI:
(Medium Resolution Image): the gray values represent the strength of the
reflected radar signal; the stronger the back-scattering the brighter the image. Two such
images are needed to obtain the Interferogram.
NASA:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NIMA:
National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
PB:
(Play Back) Transmission from the Space Shuttle to ground of both the
inboard and outboard radar data. This event is possible only when the Space Shuttle is
flying on the ocean with the radar off. With a PB we can produce a DEM.
Radar:
apparatus which transmit and receive signals with a particular frequency band to identify
and locate objects measuring the distance or the elevation of the target.
RCS:
(Radar Cross Section) Identify in a certain manner the dimension of an object illuminated
by a radar signal on the basis of the backscattered signal.
SAR:
(Synthetic Aperture Radar) Radar antenna whose dimension is simulated to be much more big
than the physical dimension sampling the antenna signals while the antenna is moving. This
technique is used to simulate a bigger antenna to obtain a better precision.
SIR-C:
Shuttle Imaging Radar-C
SRTM:
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
X-SAR:
X-Synthetic Aperture Radar