Sral, A Radar Altimeter Designed To Measure Several Surface Types

In the frame of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program ESA is currently implementing the Sentinel-3 mission [1], [2]. It is designed as a constellation of two identical polar orbiting satellites, separated by 180 deg, for the provision of long-term operational marine and land monitoring services. As such, the Sentinel-3 satellite carries a topography mission including mainly RF instruments and an ocean and land colour mission composed of optical instruments. The aim of this paper is to first provide a brief overview of the Sentinel-3 mission and then focus on the core instrument of the topography mission [3], the SRAL radar altimeter [4], and its latest development steps.