No single nation has the resources to deploy the constellation of satellites necessary to exploit this technology fully or to test the advantages and disadvantages of different combinations of spectral bands or types of data from different sensors.

Recent technological advances that can significantly reduce the size and cost of spaceborne SAR, advances in data capture and processing, the advantages of SAR over electro-optical imaging, and potential trade-offs to reduce the weight of a SAR all led the committee to conclude that focused applications of a multifrequency small SAR mission, as opposed to one with a single-frequency system, could provide more and better information and understanding of earth, ocean, and atmospheric processes at lower costs than were heretofore possible.