Forty years ago, the United States government made a decision that transformed the modern world: it opened the Global Positioning System (GPS) to civilian use. What began as a military technology became the foundation for countless innovations that we now take for granted — from turn-by-turn navigation to precision farming to emergency response systems. Today, GPS contributes hundreds of billions of dollars annually to the global economy while maintaining America’s technological leadership. We stand at a similar crossroads with another transformative space technology: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). These advanced satellites can image…
