In early November 2007, several weeks of heavy rainfall caused devastating flooding in the Mexican federal states of Tabasco and Chiapas. About one million people lost their homes, including about half of the entire population of Tabasco. At times, almost 80% of the federal state of Tabasco lay under water, with the region around the town of Villahermosa being the worst affected.
The technology depicts the differences in blue, enabling these areas to be seen clearly on the image. The urban area of Villahermosa is at the top left of this picture, and is displayed in bright shades of pink. Credit: DLR.
TerraSAR-X has gone on to have a unique and highly successful track record. In contrast to optical systems, the radar technology on this satellite enables it to record images through cloud and at night, meaning that it is able to operate continuously, right around the clock.
TerraSAR-X is Germany’s first radar satellite and is, at the same time, the first nationally operated remote sensing satellite, brought into being by a Public Private Partnership between the German Aerospace Center and Friedrichshafen-based Astrium GmbH.
DLR is responsible for planning and carrying out the mission, for controlling the satellite and the radar instrument, and for the scientific use of TerraSAR-X data.
After its launch from the Russian space station at Baikonur, DLR was able to unveil the first TerraSAR-X imagery within just four days. Following this, full commissioning of the satellite and its radar instrument was completed on schedule.
An unbeatable double: TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X
A virtually identical radar satellite, TanDEM-X, is scheduled to be launched. These two German satellites will then fly in close formation, separated by distances of between 200 metres and a few kilometres, with the new TanDEM-X satellite effectively ‘dancing’ around the TerraSAR-X.
A successful two-year track record: Satellite imaging data can be superimposed to single-pixel precision Since the launch of the TerraSAR-X satellite, the mission control centre at DLR has produced about 35 000 radar images of the Earth’s surface and has processed somewhere in the region of 50 000 high-quality products for scientific and commercial users. These results have demonstrated the high quality of products from the TerraSAR-X satellite, which, in many respects, actually outperforms the specified requirements.
A large number of scientific and commercial applications achievable through the use of radar technolog TerraSAR-X radar data can be used for a large number of scientific and commercial applications. The focus of operations is on applications such as agriculture and forestry, land usage and vegetation, the monitoring of urban areas, and cartography. Research into the icecaps and maritime applications also benefit from this data.
TerraSAR-X is capable, irrespective of cloud cover and time of day, of delivering high-resolution images with an accuracy of down to one metre.