AltiCube+: A low-cost long fixed-baseline radar altimeter solution based on cubesats on-orbit assembly

Radar interferometry can be used to obtain sub-kilometer resolution over a swath at the expense of additional transmit power and a sufficiently long baseline to accommodate at least two antennas. This paper reports an innovative concept called AltiCube+, a low-cost long fixed-baseline interferometric radar altimeter based on CubeSats on-orbit assembly. The AltiCube+ concept consists of multiple 16U CubeSats. After an early operation and commissioning phase, these CubeSats will perform autonomous rendezvous and docking with each other via deployable booms to establish a long fixed-baseline, and then deploy antennas for an interferometric altimeter configuration. The uniqueness of AltiCube+ is on the potential scientific opportunities brought by two left and right looking interferometric altimeters with around 6 meter baseline (total system length is more than 8 m) and the sustainability due to its significantly low cost and short development lifecycle. If budget allows, multiple AltiCube+ systems with same or different altimetry capabilities can form a constellation to dramatically reduce the revisit time and, therefore, provide much better spatiotemporal coverage. • A low-cost long fixed-baseline interferometric radar altimeter based on CubeSats on-orbit assembly is proposed. • Sub-km cross track resolution can be achieved with two left and right looking interferometric altimeters on a 6-meter baseline. • Key technologies including deployable structure, autonomous assembly and capable platform are described.