On the Equivalence of LEO-SAR Constellations and Complex High-Orbit SAR Systems for the Monitoring of Large-Scale Processes

High Earth orbit Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems offer high temporal sampling and moderate spatial resolution on a global scale, potentially outperforming conventional Low Earth Orbit (LEO) systems in revisit times. However, this requires complex system architectures such as burst operation modes with multiple subswaths, large antennas, and digital beamforming. Similar temporal sampling and coverage enhancements can be realized with constellations of classical monostatic SAR instruments in LEO. This letter compares the complexity of such equivalent monostatic LEO-SAR constellations to complex high-altitude SAR systems and provides design numbers for two Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)-SAR mission examples and their LEO counterparts

Genomic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 in Egypt: insights into spike protein thermodynamic stability

The overall pattern of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic so far has been a series of waves; surges in new cases followed by declines. The appearance of novel mutations and variants underlie the rises in infections, making surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 mutations and prediction of variant evolution of utmost importance. In this study, we sequenced 320 SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes isolated from patients from the outpatient COVID-19 clinic in the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE 57357) and the Egypt Center for Research and Regenerative Medicine (ECRRM). The samples were collected between March and December 2021, covering the third and fourth waves of the pandemic. The third wave was found to be dominated by Nextclade 20D in our samples, with a small number of alpha variants. The delta variant was found to dominate the fourth wave samples, with the appearance of omicron variants late in 2021. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the omicron variants are closest genetically to early pandemic variants. Mutation analysis shows SNPs, stop codon mutation gain, and deletion/insertion mutations, with distinct patterns of mutations governed by Nextclade or WHO variant. Finally, we observed a large number of highly correlated mutations, and some negatively correlated mutations, and identified a general inclination toward mutations that lead to enhanced thermodynamic stability of the spike protein. Overall, this study contributes genetic and phylogenetic data, as well as provides insights into SARS-CoV-2 viral evolution that may eventually help in the prediction of evolving mutations for better vaccine development and drug targets

Potentials and Limitations of MEO SAR

This paper discusses the various aspects of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) missions in Medium Earth Orbits (MEO). It covers the design of suitable orbits and their corresponding coverage, with emphasis on repeat ones. Furthermore, it analyses the changes in performance as altitude increases, while addressing the potentials and limitations of high orbits. Throughout the paper one interesting orbit, repeating its ground track every 3 days and providing near-global coverage, is studied

Mission Considerations for Future MEO SAR Systems

Low Earth Orbit Synthetic Aperture Radar (LEO SAR) systems, at altitudes below 1000 km, have a limitation in regard to their instantaneous coverage on Earth and their long revisit time to the areas of interest. A suggested way to overcome these limitations is to go towards higher orbital altitudes. Increasing orbital altitude towards medium Earth orbit (MEO) heights, at altitudes varying from 2000 to 35768 km, provides advantages with respect to spatial coverage, global temporal revisit times and communications infrastructure. This paper discusses various design aspects of MEO SAR missions. It presents the main challenges in performance and shows they can be overcome for moderate resolution systems. It then describes the ability of MEO SAR to provide global coverage in 1- to 2-day revisit or continental/oceanic coverage with multi-daily observations, making MEO SAR very attractive for future scientific missions with specific interferometric and polarimetric capabilities

MEO SAR: System Concepts and Analysis

Existing microwave remote sensing instruments used for Earth observation face a clear tradeoff between spatial resolution and revisit times at global scales. The typical imaging capabilities of current systems range from daily observations at kilometer-scale resolutions provided by scatterometers to meter-scale resolutions at lower temporal rates (more than ten days) typical of synthetic aperture radars (SARs). A natural way to fill the gap between these two extremes is to use medium-Earth-orbit SAR (MEO-SAR) systems. MEO satellites are deployed at altitudes above the region of low Earth orbits (LEOs), ending at around 2000 km and below the geosynchronous orbits (GEOs) near 35,786 km. MEO SAR shows a clear potential to provide advantages in terms of spatial coverage, downlink visibility, and global temporal revisit times, e.g., providing moderate resolution images (some tens of meters) at daily rates. This article discusses the design tradeoffs of MEO SAR, including sensitivity and orbit selection. The use of these higher orbits opens the door to global coverage in one- to two-day revisit or continental/oceanic coverage with multidaily observations, making MEO SAR very attractive for future scientific missions with specific interferometric and polarimetric capabilities

MEO SAR: System Concepts and Analysis

Existing microwave remote sensing instruments used for Earth observation face a clear tradeoff between spatial resolution and revisit times at global scales. The typical imaging capabilities of current systems range from daily observations at kilometer-scale resolutions provided by scatterometers to meter-scale resolutions at lower temporal rates (more than ten days) typical of synthetic aperture radars (SARs). A natural way to fill the gap between these two extremes is to use medium-Earth-orbit SAR (MEO-SAR) systems. MEO satellites are deployed at altitudes above the region of low Earth orbits (LEOs), ending at around 2000 km and below the geosynchronous orbits (GEOs) near 35 786 km. MEO SAR shows a clear potential to provide advantages in terms of spatial coverage, downlink visibility, and global temporal revisit times, e.g., providing moderate resolution images (some tens of meters) at daily rates. This article discusses the design tradeoffs of MEO SAR, including sensitivity and orbit selection. The use of these higher orbits opens the door to global coverage in one- to two-day revisit or continental/oceanic coverage with multidaily observations, making MEO SAR very attractive for future scientific missions with specific interferometric and polarimetric capabilities.Mathematical Geodesy and Positionin