A Radar Eye on the Moon: Potentials and Limitations for Earth Imaging

Among the next space missions goals the exploitation of the Moon, the natural Earth satellite, is gaining an increasing interest. Colonization of the Moon is along the usual track of human civilization and economic expansion; it is also related to a large number of scientific issues; including Earth Observation (EO). With respect to standard LEO satellite commonly used in remote sensing; Moon has specific features. In this work we analyze the potentials as well as the limitations related to active microwave remote sensing with Synthetic Aperture Radar in terms of imaging characteristics and potential applications.