Abstract: A satellite architecture and method for microwave interferometry radiating incrementally accumulating holography, used to create a high-gain, narrow-bandwidth actively-illuminated interferometric bistatic SAR whose VLBI has a baseline between its two bistatic apertures, each on a different satellite, that is considerably longer than the FOV, in contrast to prior art bistatic SAR where the interferometer baseline is shorter than the FOV. Three, six, and twelve satellite configurations are formed of VLA satellite VLBI triads, each satellite of the triad being in its own nominally circular orbit in an orbital plane mutually orthogonal to the others of the triad. VLBI pairs are formed by pairwise groupings of satellites in each VLA triad, with the third satellite being used as a control satellite to receive both Michelson interferometric data for phase closure and Fizeau interferometric imaging data that is recorded on a holographic disc, preserving phase.

Abstract: A satellite architecture and method for microwave interferometry radiating incrementally accumulating holography, used to create a high-gain, narrow-bandwidth actively-illuminated interferometric bistatic SAR whose VLBI has a baseline between its two bistatic apertures, each on a different satellite, that is considerably longer than the FOV, in contrast to prior art bistatic SAR where the interferometer baseline is shorter than the FOV. Three, six, and twelve satellite configurations are formed of VLA satellite VLBI triads, each satellite of the triad being in its own nominally circular orbit in an orbital plane mutually orthogonal to the others of the triad. VLBI pairs are formed by pairwise groupings of satellites in each VLA triad, with the third satellite being used as a control satellite to receive both Michelson interferometric data for phase closure and Fizeau interferometric imaging data that is recorded on a holographic disc, preserving phase.

Abstract: A method of satellite operation utilizing a paired-satellite configuration in which one satellite illuminates the imaged field of view and the other satellite receives the reflected energy using bistatic synthetic radar. This method enables the unambiguous detection of radar signals for imagery construction, improves stability for image quality, provides recording format linearity to minimize image reconstruction processing, provides orthogonal range-doppler pattern distribution at all points in the recording plane to minimize computer processing, provides a triangulated signal reference baseline to improve system calibratability, and enables conformal mapping and uniform sampling of zone plates to achieve three dimensional holography.