Article Posted on : - May 15, 2010

With the tandem formation TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X, it will be possible to completely measure the Earth's land surface, which is 150 million square kilometres, within a period of only 2.5 years. EADS Astrium photo

NEW DELHI (BNS): German experts have begun prelaunch processing of radiolocation satellite TanDEM-X at site 31, clean room, Baikonur, according to Roscosmos.

The spacecraft arrived at the space port on May 12. The satellite has proven its suitability for operation in space in a series of special tests at IABG in Ottobrunn, near Munich, an EADS Astrium statement said.

The Astrium-built TanDEM-X satellite has been tentatively scheduled for lift-off on 21 June, aboard a Dnepr launch vehicle from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

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 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.