TerraSAR-X: Satellite & Mission
The new German radar satellite TerraSAR-X was successfully launched on June 15th, 2007, from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
With its active antenna, the spacecraft acquires new high-quality X-band radar images of the entire planet whilst circling Earth in a polar orbit at 514 km altitude. TerraSAR-X is designed to carry out its task for five years, independent of weather conditions and illumination, and reliably provides radar images with a resolution of up to 1m.
Technical Features include
- Active phased array X-band SAR
- Single, dual and quad polarisation
- Side-looking acquisition geometry
- Sun-synchronous dawn-dusk repeat orbit
- Repetition rate: 11 days; due to swath overlay, a 2.5 day revisit time can be achieved
- Orbit altitude range from 512 km to 530 km
- Three operational imaging modes:
- SpotLight: up to 1m resolution, 10 km (width) x 5 km (length)
- StripMap: up to 3m resolution, 30 km (width) x 50 km (length)
- ScanSAR: up to 18 m resolution, 100 km (width) x 150 km (length)
StripMap and ScanSAR: acquisition length extendable to 1,650 km
TerraSAR-X is the first German radar satellite to be implemented within a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Europe’s leading satellite specialist Astrium. DLR and Astrium share the costs of the development, construction and deployment of the satellite.
In order to ensure the commercial success of the mission, Astrium GmbH founded its 100% subsidiary Infoterra GmbH in 2001; the company being responsible for establishing a commercial market for TerraSAR-X data as well as TerraSAR-X-based geo-information products and services. Scientific use, mission planning and operation of the satellite is the responsibility of DLR.
In the future, the PPP-funded TanDEM-X, a twin satellite to TerraSAR-X, will enhance the mission. The satellite constellation will enable the generation of high-quality Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) on a global scale.
