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The application of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) techniques to classical radaraltimetry at nadir offers a potential solution to significantly enhance the precisionand along-track resolution of ocean surface topography mapping and the ability toobtain altimeter measurements closer to the coast. The main objective of the ESASAMOSA project: "Development of SAR Altimetry Studies and Applications overOcean, Coastal zones and Inland waters" is to better quantifying the improvement ofSAR altimetry (aka Delay Doppler Altimetry, or DDA) with respect to conventionalpulse-limited altimetry over water. This paper will provide an overview of the objectivesand methodology in the SAMOSA project, and will present its latest results. Inconcrete, the project will use CRYOSAT CRYMPS numerical simulations for a varietyof water surface scenarios to estimate the improvement in altimetric precision inSAR mode. These will be compared with previous theoretical and numerical findingby Jensen & Raney (1998) and Raney (1998).