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TerraSAR-X - the commercial radar eye in space

Berlin/Friedrichshafen, 01 May 2002

For the first time in Germany, it has been decided to fund and build an Earth observation satellite in a public-private partnership - TerraSAR-X. In March of this year, a corresponding agreement was signed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the space company Astrium (Friedrichshafen). In 2005, the 1-ton radar satellite is to be launched from Russia in order to provide geo-information of new quality from an altitude of 500 kilometres. DLR will be responsible for scientific use and exclusive commercial marketing of the gathered geo-information will be performed by Infoterra GmbH (Friedrichshafen), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astrium specialising in the collection and processing of air- and satellite-based data.

The DLR order for the TerraSAR-X spacecraft is worth some € 102 million to Astrium. In addition, the company contributes € 28 million in company funds to satellite construction. In parallel, Astrium is channelling further private-enterprise funds into the development of geo-information products and their marketing. Astrium and DLR have already spent substantial company funds for technical development, definition of data products and expansion of ground infrastructure.

While Earth observation from space in the past was mainly geared towards scientific purposes, today data and the derived information products are increasingly used for various commercial applications. For example, potential users are planning and consulting offices, food and natural resource industries, insurance companies or agencies. However, from a customer's point of view, the data and information supplied by current satellite missions have one considerable drawback: they only partially meet their requirements.
Data of new quality is in demand

New data of enhanced quality is therefore needed for an increasing and sustained commercial exploitation of Earth observation data. it must be more detailed, have a better thematic accuracy, and must be delivered faster and be reliably independent of weather conditions and cloud cover. According to Astrium studies, the data supplied by the newly developed high-resolution radar instruments (SAR - Synthetic Aperture Radar) is ideal source material for commercial applications.

The radar satellite TerraSAR-X will deliver "new-quality data" by mid-2005. It carries an active X-band instrument which allows image resolutions of up to one metre. One advantage of the active antenna can be described as follows: Formerly, it would have been necessary to turn the head -the whole satellite - to obtain another viewing angle . Today the eyes - say the scanning swath - can be moved. Furthermore, the resolution and the scanning swath can be changed like a 1:10 zoom () to offer either a large-area view or a small-area view with maximum resolution. The latest broadband technology will be used to transmit the extensive stream of data down to Earth. TerraSAR-X will fly in a polar orbit at an altitude of approximately 500 km. As the Earth rotates, the satellite will scan all regions of the Earth swath by swath. Priority observations of any site can be performed within three days or even less.

At Infoterra GmbH, innovative products and delivery chains have already been developed in close co-operation with customers, researchers and specialised partner companies. Even before the launch of TerraSAR-X these will be tested in the marketplace. With this quality of data, Infoterra expects to attract some tens of millions of Euros worth of business by 2010. TerraSAR-X data and products will also play an important role in the European GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme.

X-band technology - a German speciality

For more than two decades, X-band radar technology has been promoted and developed in Germany. TerraSAR-X represents the pinnacle in a long development programme which has resulted in successful space missions, e.g. the national SAR missions X-SAR in 1994 and SRTM in 2000. These were experimental short-term missions whereas TerraSAR-X will now provide an operational satellite service for scientific and commercial applications.

By 2007, it is planned to integrate TerraSAR-X into an expanded overall concept consisting of both X-band and L-band components. The "second frequency" will allow the generation of further thematic information, thus opening up a multitude of further applications. The L-band satellite willll be implemented under an ESA project.

Friedrichshafen, May 2002 / 02019

For further information:

Astrium
Earth Observation & Science
Mathias Pikelj
Tel.: +49-7545-8-9123
Fax: +49-7545-8-5589
presse-eo@astrium-space.com
Internet: http://www.astrium-space.com
www.Astrium-Space.com

TerraSAR-X at a glance:

Height:	5.0 m
Diameter:	2.3 m
Launch mass: of which payload:	1,023 kg 394 kg
SAR antenna:	4.8 m x 0.80 x 0.15 m
Resolution:	1 m for 5 x 10 km scene
Power consumption:	605 W
Data storage:	256 Gbit
Data transmission:	300 Mbit/s – X-band downlink
Orbit:	514 km / 98° inclination sun-synchronous
Revisit interval:	11 days
Life time:	5 years