On take-off, the cargo bay doors are closed as seen in the graphic on the next page. The X-SAR antenna is a slotted waveguide type, which uses a mechanical tilt to change the beam pointing direction. This corresponds to a total of 50 hours of data. The data collected will be processed into images with resolution selectable from 10 to 200 meters. The width of the area mapped out by the radar will vary from 15 to 90 kilometers, depending on how the radar is operated, and the direction in which the antenna beams are pointing.
North is to the right of the image shown.
This allows derivation of the complete scattering matrix of a scene on a pixel by pixel basis. The radar polarimetric data will yield more detailed information about the surface geometric structure, vegetation cover, and subsurface discontinuities than image brightness alone. The program was continued by development of the X-SAR, for which cooperation with Italy was initiated. Each array is composed of a uniform grid of dual-polarized microstrip antenna radiators, with each polarization port fed by a separate corporate feed network. The overall size of the SIR- C antenna is 12.0 x 3.7 meters and consists of three leaves each divided into four subpanels.