The Scientific Use of Terrasar-x

TerraSAR-X is a new German radar satellite that shall be launched in April 2006. The expected lifetime is 5 years. It carries a high frequency X-band SAR sensor that can be operated in different modes and polarization. The Spotlight(1.3 m), Stripmap(3.3 m) and ScanSARmodes (14.8 m) provide high resolution SAR images for detailed analysis as well as wide swath data whenever a larger coverage is required. Imaging will operationally be possible in single and dual polarization. Quad-polarized data will be available on an experimental basis. Beam steering enables observation in different incidence angles and double side access can be realized by satellite roll maneuvers. TerraSAR-X will be an operational SAR-system for scientific and commercial applications that will equally share the satellite tasking time. The status “Scientific Use” needs to be gained via a selection process. An Announcement of Opportunity (AO) shall be released one year before the launch. TerraSAR-X data will be provided for the costs of fulfilling the user request. KeywordsTerraSAR-X; multi-mode, multi-polarization