COSMO-SkyMed

COSMO-SkyMed is an ASI first-generation four-satellite X-band SAR constellation for dual-use civil and governmental Earth observation.^[1][2] The satellites fly a sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit providing up to 12-hour revisit for the four-spacecraft constellation.^[3] Each spacecraft carries the SAR-2000 X-band instrument operating at 9.60 GHz, with resolution ranging from 1 to 100 m and swath from 10 to 200 km by acquisition mode.^[4] Thales Alenia Space manufactured the radar satellites and end-to-end system; Telespazio handles ground segment logistics and operations; e-GEOS distributes data commercially.^[1] The system supports emergency management, disaster monitoring, and the systematic MapItaly national acquisition programme, with radar-backscatter and interferometric deformation workflows demonstrated across the first-generation constellation.^[1][3] WMO tracks the first-generation programme lifetime through 2026; per-satellite retirement dates beyond that period were not confirmed in the sources consulted.^[3]