TerraSAR-X Mission Status

TerraSAR-X is Germany´s first national remote sensing satellite being implemented in a public-private partnership between the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and EADS Astrium GmbH, with a significant financial contribution from the industrial partner. This radar satellite, which is to be launched in June 2007 will supply high-quality radar data for purposes of scientific observation of the Earth for a period of at least five years. At the same time it is designed to satisfy the steadily growing demand of the private sector for remote sensing data in the commercial market. This contribution will describe first the public-private partnership scheme, the roles and responsibilities of the partners as well as the overall project organization. The mission and system design will then be described, followed by a brief overview of the satellite, the related Ground Segment and the applied data policy. The contribution will then focus on the actual mission status. Finally a brief outlook will be given on the activities to come.