Article Posted on : - Jun 09, 2010

TanDEM-X is readied for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo: Yuzhny Space Center

BAIKONUR/BERLIN (BNS): The project to �map the Earth in 3D" is now entering its final preparation stage as the German Earth observation satellite TanDEM-X is readied for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

TanDEM-X scheduled for launch into orbit on June 21 is now being integrated into the space head module. The satellite will be launched using a Dnepr launch vehicle at an altitude of 514 kilometres, an EADS Astrium statement said.

TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement) is a German program for a new generation SAR satellite operating at X-band in single pass SAR interferometry.

The Astrium built satellite will gather data with the almost identical TerraSAR-X satellite for a digital elevation model portraying Earth's landmasses in unprecedented quality.

Collecting the data for this new model will take three years. To do this, TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X will form a radar interferometer.

The satellites will fly in close formation, only a few hundred metres apart, enabling terrain images to be acquired simultaneously from different viewing angles.

The two satellites are scheduled to map the complete land area of Earth �150 million square kilometres � on a 12-metre grid and with a relative vertical accuracy of less than 2 metres.