The Load Design and Implementation of HJ-1-C Space-borne SAR

HJ-1-C is a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite in the Constellation of 2+1 for China environment and disaster monitoring. It works at S-band with a resolution of 5 m. SAR payload uses a reflector antenna and a high-power concentrated transmitter. Its light weight and high efficiency is very suitable for a small satellite platform. Now HJ-1-C satellite has been launched into orbit and has acquired Chinese first S-band SAR images from space, which demonstrate excellent quality and rich information about scenes imaged. This success verifies our design, testing and experiment work on the payload. With its following operation, HJ-1-C satellite is expected to make a great contribution to the applications of environment protection and disaster monitoring in China. This paper introduces the design and development of HJ-1-C SAR payload, present its main parameters and performance, describes its device details and its manufacture, testing and experiment process. Some images acquired in the orbit are showed.