This paper focuses on a new concept for spaceborne Pband radar implementation, that is distributed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based on formation flying. This approach can in principle allow to overcome physical constraints that limit the performance of monolithic SARs, leading in the P-band case to huge antennas and hard swath/resolution trade-offs. The proposed SAR is based on a larger transmitting satellite and a set of lightweight receiving-only platforms. This architecture also allows for multi-mission capabilities. In particular, in the P-band case forests observation and biomass estimation can be combined with interferometric ice sounding. Payload concept and architecture are clarified, mission analysis and spacecrafts design are presented. The formation control architecture is based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, an Inter Satellite Link (ISL) with Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) protocol, and micro propulsion thrusters. Preliminary considerations and numerical results on formation control are pointed out.
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