This colour composite image of Berlin Schönefeld airport is made up from three high-resolution acquisitions by German radar satellite TerraSAR-X. Green, red and blue images were taken at different times between 14 April and 28 May, so the temporary buildings housing the ILA air show are clearly visible in one colour only: blue.
Below and to the left of the ILA buildings is the major construction area of the future terminal; colours there vary, as the area changed significantly over the course of the three-image acquisition. Dots on the asphalt are aircraft and vehicles that were present at only one of the three acquisition dates.
TerraSAR-X has been in orbit for two years. A second, identical satellite - TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for digital elevation measurement) -- is scheduled for launch on a Russian Dnepr rocket on 21 June from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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© DLR |
The pair, operating just a few hundred metres apart, will form the first configurable synthetic aperture radar interferometer in space. Over the course of three years the pair will generate highly precise topographical measurements of the entire surface of the Earth.
Both satellites were built by EADS Astrium, and its Infoterra subsidiary is handling marketing of the images. The mission is under the control of German aerospace centre DLR.
Source: Flight Daily News
