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.