Not All Supernovae Are Created Equal: Rethinking the Universe’s Measuring Tools

6/3/2025

Rethinking the Reliability of Type 1a Supernovae How do astronomers measure the universe? It all starts with distance. From gauging the size of a galaxy to calculating how fast the universe is expanding, measuring cosmic distances is essential to understanding everything in the sky. For nearby stars, astronomers use... Read More >

Using LLMs To Research Remote Sensing Software: Helpful, but Incomplete

5/26/2025

Whether you’re new to remote sensing or a seasoned expert, there is no doubt that large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini can be incredibly useful in many aspects of research. From exploring the electromagnetic spectrum to creating object detection models using the latest deep learning... Read More >

From Image to Insight: How GEOINT Automation Is Changing the Speed of Decision-Making

4/28/2025

When every second counts, the ability to process geospatial data rapidly and accurately isn’t just helpful, it’s critical. Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) has always played a pivotal role in defense, security, and disaster response. But in high-tempo operations, traditional workflows are no longer fast enough. Analysts are... Read More >

Thermal Infrared Echoes: Illuminating the Last Gasp of a Dying Star

4/24/2025

This blog was written by Eli Dwek, Emeritus, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD and Research Fellow, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA. It is the fifth blog in a series showcasing our IDL® Fellows program which supports passionate retired IDL users who may need support to continue their work... Read More >

A New Era of Hyperspectral Imaging with ENVI® and Wyvern’s Open Data Program

2/25/2025

This blog was written in collaboration with Adam O’Connor from Wyvern. As hyperspectral imaging (HSI) continues to grow in importance, access to high-quality satellite data is key to unlocking new insights in environmental monitoring, agriculture, forestry, mining, security, energy infrastructure management, and more.... Read More >

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NovaSAR-1 is Almost Here – Enhancing Remote Sensing Applications

Cherie Tyrrell Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is rapidly becoming a fundamental and critical dataset in geospatial analysis. Unlike many other observational methods, SAR is not limited by illumination or cloud cover, so collection and subsequent analysis can be conducted night or day, and even in inclement weather.

One of the most recent and exciting new SAR instruments is NovaSAR-1, which is a small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission. It has been partly funded by the UK Government and its mission partners include the UK Space Agency, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Republic of the Philippines Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), and Space-Eyes LLC.

Images were captured of the same location by NovaSAR-1, Sentinel-1, and Sentinel-2. (Left) NovaSAR-1 HH acquired June 20; (Middle) Sentinel-2 June 21; (Right) Sentinel-1 June 15.

NovaSAR-1 was launched in 2018 and is close to being operational. The S-band SAR platform provides medium resolution (6 - 30m) data, which is ideal for applications in the following fields:

flood monitoring
agricultural crop assessment
forest monitoring (temperate and rain forest)
land-use mapping
disaster management
maritime applications

Data from Sentinel-1 and 2 and NovaSAR-1 complement each other well. In the image highlighted to the left, one can see the way that the way NovaSAR-1 C-band and Sentinel-1 S-band interact with ground cover can be quite different for an identical agricultural area.

ENVI® SARscape® and ENVI SARscape Analytics can be used to easily process and analyze just about all SAR data like that from NovaSAR-1 and Sentinel-1. Their automated SAR-based analytical workflows can run at-scale to solve problems across a wide range of disciplines including disaster mitigation and response, urban development and land use, agriculture, change detection, and monitoring across land and sea.

Dr. Dipak Paudyal, Managing Director of our exclusive distributor in Australia, APAC Geospatial, has written a blog post that looks at the value of NovaSAR-1 data, how NovaSAR-1 data compares to Sentinel-1 data, and how to perform various analysis with this upcoming data type in ENVI SARscape.

Read through his blog post and see how NovaSAR-1 data and ENVI SARscape can provide measurable information for your geospatial applications!