National programs, achievements and current perspectives at the Italian Space Agency to promote SAR missions, InSAR scientific research and downstream applications
Authors: Tapete Deodato , Montuori Antonio , Virelli Maria , Coletta Alessandro , Longo Francesco , Zoffoli Simona 
Published: March 2024

Italy is world leader in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and SAR Interferometry (InSAR), owing to a complete in-house supply and value-added chain. To consolidate this strength, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) run national programs promoting new SAR missions [1], development of SAR/InSAR-based scientific research, and demonstration of novel downstream applications [2-3].W.r.t. space upstream, in 2019-2022 the flagship COSMO-SkyMed constellation was ensured operational continuity with the launch of two Second Generation satellites. COSMO-SkyMed efficiently addresses users&#8217; needs via provision of interferometric SAR time series through: a) regular observation plans, e.g. the MapItaly project over the national territory and the Background Mission across the globe; b) on-demand tasking; c) specific coverages, e.g. in 2023 during emergencies like Turkey and Syria earthquake [4] and floods in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany regions, Italy [5]; d) within international initiatives, e.g. the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) [6].COSMO-SkyMed is also exploited in bilateral cooperation with other space agencies, e.g. JAXA on disaster management [7] and CONAE through SIASGE program [8]. In this respect, ASI promotes multi-mission/multi-frequency approach to investigate synergy between radar bands.Within PLATiNO national program [9], PLT-1 will embark a compact X-band SAR payload, with metrical resolution, and operate in both monostatic and bistatic mode with COSMO&#8208;SkyMed. Several long-baseline bistatic SAR techniques are currently being evaluated.Moreover, the current study for a national L-band SAR mission focuses on the assessment of L-band application scenarios, exploitation of monostatic and bistatic configurations, and the analysis of synergies with respect to ROSE-L system and Sentinel-1 constellation.W.r.t. midstream/ground-segment, ASI not only implemented a new portal to facilitate access to and tasking of COSMO-SkyMed data by institutional users, but also has recently announced the new MapItaly Portal, equipped with user-oriented interface, high-performance processing capability, and download speed [10]. While MapItaly Portal will be expanded to other SAR missions, since 2021 ASI is distributing SAOCOM data collected within ASI&#8217;s Zone of Exclusivity through a dedicated portal [11].All these investments are capitalised in national R&amp;D programs aiming to develop novel algorithms up to at least a Scientific Readiness Level (SRL) of 4, i.e. &#8220;Proof of concept&#8221;. The most recent was the &#8220;Multi-mission and multi-frequency SAR&#8221; program [2-3]. In 2021-2023, national public research bodies and industry developed and tested innovative algorithms to process multi-mission/multi-frequency SAR data. InSAR and SAR tomography were among the main techniques that were improved, e.g. for natural hazards applications in DInSAR-3M, MUSAR and MEFISTO projects [12-14].Perspectives for testing these algorithms in a pre-operational context and input into final users&#8217; workflows are now offered by the Innovation for Downstream Preparation (I4DP) program. Launched in late 2021, I4DP implements the ASI&#8217;s roadmap for downstream [15]. Some of the current projects deploys InSAR to address multi-risk assessment in urban areas, infrastructure monitoring, cultural heritage conservation.A selection of results from the above-mentioned initiatives will be presented in order to share and give evidence of the main achievements and current perspectives.[1] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9554834[2] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS46834.2022.9884937[3] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282854[4] http://geo-gsnl.org/supersites/event-supersites/active-event-supersites/kahramanmaras-event-supersite/eo-data-access-for-the-kahramanmaras-event-supersite/[5] https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/sites/default/files/files/IB167%20-%20The%20CEMS%20activities%20for%20the%20floods%20in%20Emilia%20Romagna.pdf[6] https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU22/EGU22-5803.html[7] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282884[8] https://www.argentina.gob.ar/ciencia/conae/misiones-espaciales/siasge[9] https://iafastro.directory/iac/paper/id/47097/summary/[10] https://www.asi.it/en/2023/12/asi-italian-space-agency-upgrades-access-to-mapitaly-data/[11] https://www.asi.it/en/earth-science/saocom/[12] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS46834.2022.9884715[13] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS46834.2022.9883325[14] https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282735[15] https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU22/EGU22-5643.html