Twin satellites - TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X

DLR's TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X are twin satellites flying in close formation to acquire SAR data of unique geometric accuracy. Operating together, the missions deliver data that are used to generate Digital Elevation Models of Earth.

The satellites are part of the Third Party Missions programme, in which ESA promotes the availability of the data for research and applications development. &nbsp;

Learn about TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X in our new infographic:&nbsp;

<figure class="centered-mobile-centered"><a href="/documents/20142/4248244/TerraSAR-X-TanDEM-X-Infographic.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="TerraSAR-X TanDEM-X Infographic" class="centered-mobile-centered" src="/documents/20142/4248244/TerraSAR-X-TanDEM-X-Infographic-Hi-res.jpg" /></a>

<figcaption style="text-align: center;"><a href="/documents/20142/4248244/TerraSAR-X-TanDEM-X-Infographic.pdf" target="_blank">Download the infographic</a></figcaption>
</figure>

In this video, Tommaso Parrinello - CryoSat Mission Manager - talks about ESA's ice mission and some of its achievements after more than 10 years of operations.

An overview of the CryoSat mission

New datasets have been released for the Cryo-TEMPO thematic products.

Brand new Cryo-TEMPO Baseline-B boosts CryoSat research

New CryoTEMPO EOLIS baseline 2 point and gridded products are now available monthly as of January 2023.

New CryoTEMPO-EOLIS baseline 2 point and gridded products

Learn about how RADARSAT scans Earth's surface in our new infographic.

Discover how RADARSAT scans Earth's surface

ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission (SMOS) was the second Earth Explorer launched in 2009. Over 13 years on, having already vastly exceeded its predicted lifetime and initial objectives, the mission has been further extended until at least the end of 2025.

Overachieving SMOS mission primed for continued success

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A Fast Registration request must be submitted to access these data collections. Following user authentication, access to the data are provided within two working days.

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A Project Proposal must be submitted to access these Third Party Mission data collections, describing the proposed use of the data and the team involved in the project.

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Data Service Requests must be submitted to access ERS-1/2 and Envisat (A)SAR level zero data.

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Earth Observation Satellite

TOPEX/POSEIDON

Joint Polar Satellite System - 2 planned for 2022

JPSS-2

Joint Polar Satellite System - 3 planned for 2026

JPSS-3

Joint Polar Satellite System - 4 planned for 2031

JPSS-4

Swarm-B

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CloudSat

Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

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GOSAT-2

GOSAT (Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite) is a JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) mission within the GCOM (Global Change Observation Mission) program of Japan. The GOSAT mission goals call for the study of the transport mechanisms of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).

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NOAA-20

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GMS (Japan Geostationary Meteorological Satellite)

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Star Camera Assembly (SCA) precisely determines the two GRACE satellite's orientation by tracking them relative to the position of the stars.

GRACE SCA

Instrument

The Laser Retro-Reflector (LRR) is mounted on the Earth-facing panel of Envisat close to the RA-2 antenna to support satellite ranging for precise orbit determination and RA-2 range measurement calibration. Laser tracking provides the distance between the spacecraft and the station and is assimilated in precise orbit determination. It will be used extensively during the commissioning phase and regularly during the mission to verify the stability of the positioning system.

Laser Retro-Reflector consisting of four corner cubes mounted in a small pyramid on the underside of the spacecraft. They provide a means of tracking the GRACE satellites from the ground for backup and orbit verification.

GRACE LRR

Precise orbit determination relies on the data from the GPS receivers providing full global coverage of orbit data. The alternative method of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is used as a supporting and independent means for orbit determination. Its limitation is the rather poor global and temporal coverage, but the SLR data is free from ambiguities and directly related to the terrestrial reference frame.

Each of the Swarm satellites is equipped with a Laser Retro-Reflector (LRR) of novel design for external calibration and validation of the onboard GPS receiver. A basic requirement for LRR is to enable the worldwide SLR station network to track the satellite with high accuracy and with a sufficiently high link budget under both night and daytime ranging conditions.

The PRARE (Precise Range and Range-Rate Equipment) instruments, carried aboard ERS-1 and ERS-2, were developed for precise satellite range determination leading to higher-accuracy altitude measurements.

PRARE

A spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomenon where the spectral components are somehow mixed. In visible light a spectrometer can for instance separate white light and measure individual narrow bands of colour, called a spectrum, while a mass spectrometer measures the spectrum of the masses of the atoms or molecules present in a gas. The first spectrometers were used to split light into an array of separate colours. Spectrometers were developed in early studies of physics, astronomy, and chemistry. The capability of spectroscopy to determine chemical composition drove its advancement and continues to be one of its primary uses. Spectrometers are used in astronomy to analyse the chemical composition of stars and planets, and spectrometers gather data on the origin of the universe. Hyperspectral radiometer—An advanced multispectral sensor that detects hundreds of very narrow spectral bands throughout the visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This sensor’s very high spectral resolution facilitates fine discrimination between different targets based on their spectral response in each of the narrow bands. A device that is designed to detect, measure, and analyse the spectral content of incident electromagnetic radiation. Conventional imaging spectrometers use gratings or prisms to disperse the radiation for spectral discrimination.

Spectrometers

Interferometric radiometers are passive imaging instruments for imaging radiation emission from a target scene.

Interferometric Radiometers

By combining different radar images of the same location – a technique known as interferometry – tiny millimetre-scale ground motion can be identified.

Interferometers

A technology demonstration that uses laser interferometry to measure fluctuations in the separation between the two GRACE spacecraft.

GRACE INTERFEROMETER

The accelerometer serves to measure all non-gravitational accelerations on the GRACE satellite due to air drag, solar radiation pressure or attitude control activator impulses initiated by the attitude and orbit control system (AOCS).

GRACE ACC

The Accelerometer measures the Swarm satellite's non-gravitational acceleration in its respective orbit. The instrument helps scientists to study factors that cause non-gravitational accelerations such as air drag, winds, Earth albedo, and direct solar radiation pressure on the spacecraft.

HRPAN

SAPHIR

The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), a cross-track scanner with 22 channels, provides sounding observations needed to retrieve profiles of atmospheric temperature and moisture for civilian operational weather forecasting as well as continuity of these measurements for climate monitoring purposes. Like the long heritage of its predecessors, ATMS combines all the channels of the preceding AMSU-A1, AMSU-A2, and AMSU-B sensors into a single package with considerable savings in mass, power, and volume.[Source: NPP home page, http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/atms.html].

ATMS

TRSR

The SSTI (Satellite to Satellite Tracking Instrument)is a state-of-the-art GPS receiver that has been designed to operate in a low-Earth orbit environment. The objective is to provide the SST-hl (Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking - high/low) contribution to the gravity field recovery, by the simultaneous tracking of up to 12 GPS satellite signals. In addition, SSTI provides data for precise orbit determination; it is also used for real-time on-board navigation and attitude-reference-frame determination. The SSTI instrument is based on the Lagrange architecture, a flight-proven device of Laben, Milan, Italy, a unit of Thales Alenia Space, Italy

SSTI

GAP (GPS Attitude and Positioning Experiment) instrument objective is to measure S/C velocity and attitude as well as TEC (Total Electron Content) of the ionosphere. The relative phase delay of signals in both the L1 and L2 bands from a GPS satellite occulted by the limb ionosphere provide large-scale (1000's of km) information on how the total electron content responds to magnetospheric perturbations. GAP consists of two components:
- GAP-A: Three single-frequency (L1) GPS receivers and four patch antennas. This package is being used to provide an accurate absolute time reference, spacecraft 3-D attitude, and post-processed spacecraft position and velocity.
- GAP-O: The objective is to provide ionospheric tomography observations.

Twin satellites - TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X

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