TerraSAR-X sends first image

The first satellite images from the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X have been received just five days after its launch. Only 30 minutes after the data had been received by the ground station in Neustrelitz – the first images appeared on the monitors at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) space centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, although the satellite will only reach its final orbital position in ten days’ time.

Over the next few months, the DLR’s TerraSAR-X team will be working towards completing the calibration of the radar instrument and optimising the data processing chain.

The first TerraSAR-X image acquired on June 19, delivered by DLR’s processing system captures a region in Southern Russia; about 500 km northeast of the Black Sea and 50 km west of Wolgograd.