* Astronomy

Formation flying trials

In Control Room 2 at the German Aerospace Centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), the clock has been put forward to October 2010. Then, Earth monitoring satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X will be orbiting in close formation, recording continuous streams of data. The control room staff need orbit simulations to prepare for the real thing.
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Orbiting the Earth at an altitude of approximately 514 kilometres, the satellite will use a radar beam to scan the planet's surface -- regardless of weather conditions, cloud cover or daylight -- and deliver fast and reliable data for a wide range of applications, producing a completely new range of options for commercial, public and scientific users. TerraSAR-X is the first national remote sensing satellite to be realised within the scope of a Public Private Partnership (PPP): Astrium developed and built the spacecraft under contract to the German Aerospace Center DLR, and also made a significant capital contribution of its own. The scientific use of the TerraSAR-X data is under the responsibility of DLR, as well as the mission planning and operation of the satellite, whilst Infoterra GmbH, a subsidiary of Astrium, specifically established for this purpose, will be responsible for the commercial exploitation of the satellite data.



"With TerraSAR-X Astrium and Infoterra are going to turn over a new leaf in the area of Earth observation. The Satellite will deliver radar data with currently unrivalled quality and flexibility. These data will provide the basis for tailor-made geo-information solutions offered by our subsidiary Infoterra to customers all over the world" - Reinhold Lutz, Managing Director of Astrium in Germany.

The satellite's outstanding technical feature is its active Synthetic Aperture Radar. 'Active' in this case means that the beam can be angled within a slewing range of 20 to 60 degrees by selectively superimposing multiple individual radar beams. This method expands the area that can be imaged by the instrument.

"Where as we can record a maximum of two images during an overflight from Munich to Berlin using a passive radar, it is now possible to take up to 20" - Uwe Minne, Astrium´s Director of Earth observation and Head of the Friedrichshafen site. Also contributing to the wide diversity of potential applications is the ability to choose three different levels of resolution (16m, 3 m and 1 m) and image size.

TerraSAR-X opens up a broad range of applications. The system's ability to operate regardless of cloud cover, for instance, makes it possible to rapidly generate up-to-date maps of large areas, in particular extensive forest and mountain regions. Many countries are also interested in quantifying forested resources and forest biomass. TerraSAR-X data could also be used as a German contribution to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, a European action plan that combines data from terrestrial, maritime and space-based measuring systems. One of the application fields for TerraSAR-X data is reconnaissance. Intelligence services, reconnaissance aircraft and relief organisations benefit from systems that not only offer very high resolution but also provide a reliable, timely data acquisition. TerraSAR-X´s weather-independent, near real-time data acquisition capabilities offer these customers unprecedented opportunities to use satellite data in time-critical situations.
TerraSAR-X is expected to have a working life of five years. Also on the agenda is the construction of a partner satellite called TanDEM-X, which will orbit the Earth alongside TerraSAR-X as of 2009. The pair will create a digital elevation model of the entire planet with a degree of resolution never before attained.

Credits: EADS Astrium

A new German radar satellite designed to map the world's surface was successfully launched Friday from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the German Aerospace Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen said. The successful launch earl Friday followed delays resulting from problems with the Russian Dnieper launch vehicle. Contact was established 20 minutes into the launch.

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