National programs, achievements and current perspectives at the Italian Space Agency to promote SAR missions, InSAR scientific research and downstream applications

Italy is world leader in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and SAR Interferometry (InSAR), owing to a complete in-house supply and value-added chain. To consolidate this strength, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) run national programs promoting new SAR missions [1], development of SAR/InSAR-based scientific research, and demonstration of novel downstream applications [2-3].

W.r.t. space upstream, in 2019-2022 the flagship COSMO-SkyMed constellation was ensured operational continuity with the launch of two Second Generation satellites. COSMO-SkyMed efficiently addresses users’ needs via provision of interferometric SAR time series through: a) regular observation plans, e.g. the MapItaly project over the national territory and the Background Mission across the globe; b) on-demand tasking; c) specific coverages, e.g. in 2023 during emergencies like Turkey and Syria earthquake [4] and floods in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany regions, Italy [5]; d) within international initiatives, e.g. the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) [6].

COSMO-SkyMed is also exploited in bilateral cooperation with other space agencies, e.g. JAXA on disaster management [7] and CONAE through SIASGE program [8]. In this respect, ASI promotes multi-mission/multi-frequency approach to investigate synergy between radar bands.

Within PLATiNO national program [9], PLT-1 will embark a compact X-band SAR payload, with metrical resolution, and operate in both monostatic and bistatic mode with COSMO‐SkyMed. Several long-baseline bistatic SAR techniques are currently being evaluated.

Moreover, the current study for a national L-band SAR mission focuses on the assessment of L-band application scenarios, exploitation of monostatic and bistatic configurations, and the analysis of synergies with respect to ROSE-L system and Sentinel-1 constellation.

W.r.t. midstream/ground-segment, ASI not only implemented a new portal to facilitate access to and tasking of COSMO-SkyMed data by institutional users, but also has recently announced the new MapItaly Portal, equipped with user-oriented interface, high-performance processing capability, and download speed [10]. While MapItaly Portal will be expanded to other SAR missions, since 2021 ASI is distributing SAOCOM data collected within ASI’s Zone of Exclusivity through a dedicated portal [11].

All these investments are capitalised in national R&D programs aiming to develop novel algorithms up to at least a Scientific Readiness Level (SRL) of 4, i.e. “Proof of concept”. The most recent was the “Multi-mission and multi-frequency SAR” program [2-3]. In 2021-2023, national public research bodies and industry developed and tested innovative algorithms to process multi-mission/multi-frequency SAR data. InSAR and SAR tomography were among the main techniques that were improved, e.g. for natural hazards applications in DInSAR-3M, MUSAR and MEFISTO projects [12-14].

Perspectives for testing these algorithms in a pre-operational context and input into final users’ workflows are now offered by the Innovation for Downstream Preparation (I4DP) program. Launched in late 2021, I4DP implements the ASI’s roadmap for downstream [15]. Some of the current projects deploys InSAR to address multi-risk assessment in urban areas, infrastructure monitoring, cultural heritage conservation.

A selection of results from the above-mentioned initiatives will be presented in order to share and give evidence of the main achievements and current perspectives.

[1] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554834

[2] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS46834.2022.9884937

[3] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282854

[4] http://geo-gsnl.org/supersites/event-supersites/active-event-supersites/kahramanmaras-event-supersite/eo-data-access-for-the-kahramanmaras-event-supersite/

[5] https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/sites/default/files/files/IB167%20-%20The%20CEMS%20activities%20for%20the%20floods%20in%20Emilia%20Romagna.pdf

[6] https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU22/EGU22-5803.html

[7] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282884

[8] https://www.argentina.gob.ar/ciencia/conae/misiones-espaciales/siasge

[9] https://iafastro.directory/iac/paper/id/47097/summary/

[10] https://www.asi.it/en/2023/12/asi-italian-space-agency-upgrades-access-to-mapitaly-data/

[11] https://www.asi.it/en/earth-science/saocom/

[12] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS46834.2022.9884715

[13] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS46834.2022.9883325

[14] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282735

[15] https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU22/EGU22-5643.html