Recently the construction the German radar satellite TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement) was complete and the satellite has been qualified for space operations during a recent series of tests. TanDEM-X is the ‘twin’ satellite of the almost identical TerraSAR-X satellite (operational since 2007), both of them have been implemented jointly by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and Infoterra GmbH (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astrium based in Friedrichshafen, Germany). On 11 May 2010, TanDEM-X will be transported from the Munich airport to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The launch in space by a Russian Dnepr launcher is scheduled for 21 June 2010.With its sister satellite, TanDEM-X will gather data during three years in order to create a new digital elevation model portraying the complete land area of Earth. To do this, both satellites will fly in close formation and form a radar interferometer. The latter plays a decisive role because it can operate completely independent of weather and cloud cover, day and night. Moreover, satellite-based Earth mapping has the advantage to generate a globally consistent and homogeneous elevation model with no discontinuity at regional or national borders and no inconsistencies resulting from different ways for measuring.
Consequently, Germany will acquire an unique digital elevation model of Earth which can be used, among others, by the German Center for Satellite-Based Crisis Information (ZKI), GMES and GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems), and also in security-related cooperation agreements.
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