Sar Payload: Former Isro director’s startup wins iDEX Challenge for developing SAR payload for satellites | India News

NEW DELHI: Sisir Radar, a space-tech start-up founded by former Isro director Tapan Misra, has won the iDEX DefSpace Challenge at the recently-held Indian Space Conclave for developing “L and P band continuous wave synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payload for low earth orbit small satellites” and “unfurlable, electronically steering antenna for L and P band SAR payload”.
Air Marshal Surat Singh of the IAF gave the award to Sisir Radar at the event hosted by the Indian Space Association.
L & P band synthetic aperture radar or dual-band radar has an advantage over other frequencies (like single X band) when it comes to unhindered viewing capabilities from space as a dual-band SAR satellite can see through rain, clouds, foliage and vegetation in a tropical country like India as well as has underground penetration capabilities for dry terrain.
Misra, who was earlier the director of the Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre, became famous in the space world for leading an Isro team in developing India’s first space-borne SAR system for Risat satellites (surveillance satellites), which are mainly being used by security agencies to keep an eye on infiltrators along the Pakistan border. The satellite images were also used to plan the surgical strikes. Misra had also played a key role in the development of a dual-frequency SAR that was used on the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which is currently circling the Moon.
Speaking to

TOI

, Tapan Misra, chairman and chief scientist of Sisir Radar, said, “Our start-up has already developed the world’s first low-altitude drone L-band SAR and 6 GHz bandwidth ground penetrating radar, both hand-operated and drone version, which are designed for mining application. It has gone through successful application trial runs in mines operated by Vedanta Group.”
SAR is a special kind of imaging radar technology that can provide extremely accurate high-resolution imagery of the terrain through clouds, smoke and dust even in pitch-dark conditions. SAR imagery provides much higher resolution than other forms of remote-sensing technology such as hyperspectral and multispectral. SAR is a critical technology for strategic reconnaissance and planning as well as for disaster management.