TSX-1
The primary payload is a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with an active antenna that allows for the utilization of different imaging modes and can be used in a very flexible manner. With radar instruments various frequency ranges of the radar spectrum can be observed, the so-called bands. TerraSAR-X is operated in the X-band, which is lying at a frequency around 9.65 GHz, corresponding to a wavelength of about 3 centimeters. The technology of the active, phase-con-trolled antenna enables a high flexibility and mission efficiency. While in case of passive systems the whole radar antenna or even the satellite must be rotated in order to align the antenna onto the tar-get area, the active antenna of TerraSAR-X can steer its radar pulses in a certain direction. The antenna is 4.80 meters long and80 centimeters wide. The satellite is designed in a way that it can be installed, together with its antenna at its full size, on the launch vehicle. In this way a complex unfolding mechanism can be avoided. The TerraSAR-X radar can operate in two polarizations, H (horizontal) and V (vertical)and consists of 12 antenna panels, each equipped with 32 slotted waveguide radiators. Each of these waveguides is fitted with a transmit/receive module (TRM), so that the whole antenna consists of 384 TRMs.
TSX
TerraSAR-X
Imaging Radars
ESA Data Ontology