ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF APPLICATION OF SYNTHETIC APERTURE SATELLITE RADARS FOR THE POST-WAR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINE
Authors: Yatsenko Valerii , Mohylna Kseniia 
Published: February 2023

Satellites with synthetic aperture radars are a promising technology. It can raise society to a new level of work with information about the environment. SAR satellites can receive detailed information about large areas of territory for a long time. Due to the decrease in the cost of launching and maintaining satellites, the development of information technology and methods, the policies of space agencies to provide satellite data for the free use of SAR satellite applications and their research are becoming more and more relevant. As part of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukraine actively and effectively uses satellite images for intelligence and defense purposes. Such experience can become a favorable precedent for the wider use of this technology in the future. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to study the prospects and possible directions of using SAR images in Ukraine for its post-war economic development.
The article investigates the use cases of satellite SAR images in different countries (in particular, India, Guatemala, China, and France). Considers the trends of the SAR imaging market in the world and Ukraine. Based on this information, the authors have outlined promising areas for SAR satellite application and the general development of the use of this technology in Ukraine. The research used such research methods as analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction, and generalization. According to the results of our research, the main areas of SAR application in the world are scientific, environmental protection, infrastructural and military. The military sphere is becoming more and more relevant given the aggravation of the political situation in the world and the successful use of SAR images by Ukraine for intelligence and defense purposes in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Another revealed consequence of the use of SAR in Ukraine is the creation of prerequisites for the future development of the use of SAR images in this region. Research has singled out promising areas of application of SAR technology, namely: military intelligence, insurance, energy and mining industry, agricultural and public sectors, hydrological research, soil condition monitoring, and urban and infrastructure development. In our opinion, SAR imaging will not gain widespread use in the short term, but its market will grow significantly in the coming years. Shortly, SAR may become a tool for Ukraine to assess the destruction caused by military operations, monitor the state of the territory, rebuild cities and infrastructure, etc.
Since the SAR imaging market is actively developing now, Ukraine's unique experience can help it establish itself as one of the main players in the market, which will contribute to the intensive post-war economic development of Ukraine. However, the successful experience of using SAR is not enough for a successful position of Ukraine in this market. Ukraine's success in this area will require a more specialized study of the opportunities and challenges of using SAR imagery. The main topics of further research are the improvement of satellite SAR data processing methods, SAR image time series processing, and analysis, and experiments on the practical application of SAR at the regional level in the areas of infrastructure and environmental monitoring.
The practical significance of SAR image research is obvious since the use of SAR satellite data has already shown its effectiveness as a means of detecting concentrations of enemy equipment and fortifications during military operations. Therefore, the further development of Ukraine in this area will allow state institutions and big businesses to collect large data sets about objects and processes on the territory of Ukraine. This will make it possible to objectively assess the amount of destruction caused as a result of the war and optimize the approach to the reconstruction of the de-occupied territories. Later, the development of SAR technologies can help Ukraine effectively monitor the state and dynamics of agriculture, soils, forests, and water resources, warn and respond to natural disasters, monitor the development of cities and the state of infrastructure, etc.