Recognition of terrestrial impact craters with COSMO-SkyMed

All bodies having a solid surface, without distinction, show, with greater or lesser evidence, the marks left by the geological processes they undergone during their evolution. There is a geomorphological feature that is evident in all the images obtained by the probes sent to explore our planetary system: impact craters. Craters formed by the impact of small cosmic bodies have dimensions ranging from some meters to hundreds of kilometers. However, for example on the Lunar regolith particles, have been observed also submillimeter craters caused by dust impacts. The kinetic energy of the impactor, which velocity is in general of the order of tens km/s, is released in fractions of a second, generally in a explosive way, generating complex phenomena that transform not only the morphology of the surface involved by the impact, but also the mineralogy and crystallography of the impacted material. Even our planet is not immune to these impacts. At present, more than 180 geological structures recognized as of impact origin are known on Earth. In this article, we aim to show how these impact structures on Earth's surface are observed from space. To do this, we used the images obtained by the COSMO-SkyMed satellite constellation. Starting from 2013, ASI proposed, in collaboration with the Astrophysical Observatory of Turin and University D'Annunzio of Chieti, the realization of an Encyclopedic Atlas of Terrestrial Impact Craters using COSMO-SkyMed data that will become the first atlas of all recognized terrestrial impact craters based on images acquired by a X band radar. To observe these impact craters all radar sensor modes have been used, according to the size of the analyzed crater. The project includes research of any new features that could be classified as impact craters and, for the sites whereby it is considered necessary, the implementation of a geological survey on site to validate the observations. In this paper an overview of the Atlas of Terrestrial Impact Craters using COSMO-SkyMed data, currently under review for publication, is provided.