This paper reviews the historical and future uses of antenna technology for space-borne microwave radiometers. The radiometer antennas are discussed, starting from the Dicke-type radiometer, as used in the Microwave Sounder Unit (MSU), to the present-day total-power radiometer. The antennas cater to the need for very high beam efficiencies, of the order of 95% to 98%. The paper also summarizes the specifications, design issues, and the performance of various radiometer antennas.

Historical and Planned Uses of Antenna Technology for Space-Borne Microwave Radiometers

Dual-channel Radiometers for Earth and Atmosphere Monitoring (DREAM) is the Korean first spaceborne radiometer which is the main payload of Science and Technology SATellite-2 (STSAT-2). The satellite will be launched by Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) at NARO Space Center in Korea in 2007. DREAM is a two-frequency, total power microwave radiometer with linear polarization. It measures the brightness temperature of the Earth at 23.8 and 37 GHz. In this paper, the characteristics and the preliminary design of DREAM are described.

Korean spaceborne microwave radiometer on STSAT-2: Dual-channel Radiometers for Earth and Atmosphere Monitoring (DREAM)

The dual-channel radiometers for Earth and atmosphere monitoring (DREAM) is the main payload for the science and technology satellite-2 (STSAT-2) mission This instrument is the first spaceborne microwave radiometer in Korea It is a two-frequency, total power microwave radiometer with linear polarization It operates at 238 GHz and 37 GHz for remote sensing of the Earth In this paper, we present its system configuration and system design

Dual-channel radiometers for Earth and atmosphere monitoring (DREAM) on micro satellite STSAT-2

The Microwave Radiometer Instrument (MWR) selected for the ENVISAT-1 mission of the European Space Agency, is a two channel passive radiometer operating at 23.9 GHz and 36.5 GHz based on the Dicke principle. By receiving and analysing the Earth's generated and reflected radiation at these two frequencies the instrument will measured the amount of water content in the atmosphere within a 20 km diameter field of view immediately beneath the ENVISAT-1 track, this information will allow the correction of atmospheric propagation data for the elaboration of measurements undertaken by the Radar Altimeter 2.

C. Graf

Papers

The development and calibration of the ENVISAT-1 microwave radiometer