The dual-use potential of the TerraSAR-X mission

Helmut Suess; Stefan Buckreuss

doi:10.1117/12.818484

29 April 2009 The dual-use potential of the TerraSAR-X mission

Helmut Suess, Stefan Buckreuss

Proceedings Volume 7308, Radar Sensor Technology XIII; 730803 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.818484
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2009, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

TerraSAR-X, Germany's first national remote sensing satellite, is implemented in a public-private partnership between the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and EADS Astrium, Infoterra GmbH. This radar satellite, launched at June 15th 2007 supplies high-quality radar data for purposes of scientific observation of the Earth for a period of at least five years. The first part of the paper describes the key features of the TerraSAR-X mission, the high-resolution X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar which allows the operation in Spotlight, Stripmap and ScanSAR mode with various polarizations. The second part of this paper deals with the interpretation of TerraSAR-X images under dual-use aspects, especially for security and reconnaissance purposes. Examples for relevant and characteristic target categories are listed and attributes for a precise description are defined. As a measure for resolution and interpretation the public NIIRS-table (National Image Interpretation Rating Scale) is used. As an application example the characteristic scenario of a military airport including railway and route connections are extracted. Finally the applicability of the NIIRS-table is discussed in this particular case.

Citation Download Citation

Helmut Suess and Stefan Buckreuss "The dual-use potential of the TerraSAR-X mission", Proc. SPIE 7308, Radar Sensor Technology XIII, 730803 (29 April 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.818484

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