Umbra has won a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to demonstrate new acquisition techniques using synthetic aperture radar satellites, according to an announcement May 22. DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, has signed a cost-sharing agreement with Umbra for a new program called Digital Radar Imaging Technology (DRIFT). The agency set aside $4.5 million for the annual project.

Umbra, a Santa Barbara-based startup, operates a constellation of six high-resolution SAR satellites and plans to launch two more this year as part of the joint SpaceX Transporter 9 mission. Space News Todd Master, COO, Umbra.

The DRIFT program aims to demonstrate the advanced imaging capabilities of at least two SAR satellites flying in succession. Radar imaging emerged as a revolutionary possibility for remote sensing during the war in Ukraine, where optical satellites were blocked by dense cloud cover and weather conditions.

Under a DARPA convention, Umbra will demonstrate a technique known as bistatic summation. Monostatic SAR imaging is performed using a single radar with a transmitter and receiver. Bistatic imaging uses two radars: one transmits and receives, and the other only receives.

“We plan to build the rest of our constellation with pairs of satellites flying in tight formation to support bistatic collection and other combined operations that provide unique phenomenology,” he said. Umbra licensed to host 32 satellites.

SAR data more accessible

“You’re looking at a much larger SAR footprint,” said Master, at the 2023 GEOINT Symposium, thanks to commercial developments.

“Remember that the commercial SAR industry in the United States has really only been around for a few years,” he said. “Everybody Sees” is an emerging technology, although Europe and Canada have adopted it much earlier. What changed was that data was extremely expensive and not very widely available.

DARPA wants to experiment with acquisition modes, Meister said, by making minor system changes to the satellites and acquisition methods commercial companies are working on.

Another commercial SAR company, Capella Space, announced last month its bistatic acquisition demonstration, which the company says can help avoid interference from radar jammers and use techniques to indicate moving targets.

“Bistatic SAR improves the visualization of objects by capturing images from different angles, which provide more information about the shape of the objects,” said Capella. “The bistatic imaging geometry may allow radars to image structures that are specifically designed to reduce the more common monostatic radar signatures, such as stealth planes.”