Launched in 2007 and operational since 2008, TerraSAR-X is the world’s first commercial 1m Radar Satellite. With its active phased array X-band SAR antenna, TerraSAR-X acquires new high-quality radar images of the entire planet on a regular basis. McElhanney is the exclusive provider of TerraSAR-X imagery in Canada.

With geometric accuracy unmatched by any other commercial spaceborne sensor, Radar Imagery from TerraSAR-X can provide a unique advantage to projects in a variety of different services.

Change Detection: Site Monitoring Services

Change Detection: Rapid Assessment Services

Flood Risk Management Services

 

3D Topographic Mapping with TerraSAR-X

Geo-Information Services for Water Quality

Surface Movement Mapping



X-Band (Radar)

Up to 1 m resolution

  • Weather independent
    penetrates cloud and smoke

Altitude: 514 km

15 orbits / day

Revisit time to same location

  • 11 days
  • < 2.5 days (95%)

Time / orbit

  • 90 min

Tasking Priority

    • 6 hrs lead time priority
    • 1 hr lead time for emergency & urgent acquisitions

3 main imaging modes:

  • SpotLight : up to 1m resolution, scene size 10 km (width) x 5 km (length)
  • StripMap : up to 3m resolution, scene size 30 km (width) x 50 km (length*)
  • ScanSAR : up to 18 m resolution, scene size 100 km (width) x 150 km (length*)
    *StripMap & ScanSAR: acquisition length extendable to up to 1,650 km.

In addition, the unique design of TerraSAR-X's SAR antenna allows a variety of polarimetric combinations : single or dual polarization and even full polarimetric data takes, are possible.

Depending on the desired application, one of four different product types (processing levels) can be selected

  • Single Look Slant Range Complex (SSC)
  • Multi Look Ground Range Detected (MGD)
  • Geocoded Ellipsoid Corrected (GEC)
  • Enhanced Ellipsoid Corrected (EEC)

More Information:

Complete Specifications Here

Sample Imagery Applications and Case Studies

Archived Imagery (ESRI Shapefile format) (as of March 3, 2010)

Archived Imagery (Google Earth KMZ format) (as of March 3, 2010)