High-resolution planetary imaging via spotlight-mode synthetic aperture radar

Abstract

We consider the application of a spotlight-mode synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging technique to the problem of high-resolution lunar imaging and other related radar astronomy problems. This approach offers improved image quality, compared with conventional processing, at the expense of slightly increased computational effort. Results of the processing of lunar data acquired with the 12.6 cm wavelength radar system at Arecibo Observatory are presented, and compared with the best available published result, by Stacy (1993), which uses focusing techniques from stripmap SAR.