Scientific use of TerraSAR-X

TerraSAR-X is a new German radar satellite scheduled to be launched in May, 2007. Its lifetime will be five years. It carries a high frequency X-band SAR sensor that can be operated in three different modes and various polarizations. The Spotlight-, Stripmap- and ScanSAR-modes provide high resolution images for detailed analysis as well as wide swath data whenever a larger coverage is required. These high geometric and radiometric resolutions together with the single, dual and quad-polarization capability are innovative and unique features with respect to space borne systems. Additionally several incidence angle combinations will be possible and double side access can be realized by satellite roll maneuvers. The satellite will be positioned in an 11 days repeat orbit. The revisit time in the very high resolution Spotlight mode is 2.5 days for 95% Earth´s surface visible to TerraSAR-X.