TerraSAR-X & TanDEM-X Radar Satellites Cover our Earth in 3D

Early summer has been "all about elevation" for Spot Image's German sister company Infoterra GmbH: In late May, the radargrammetry-based TerraSAR-X ELEVATION product suite was launched, less than a month later, the successful launch of the TanDEM-X satellite marked the start of a unique mission to acquire a global homogeneous DEM of unprecedented accuracy and coverage.

The new German radar satellite TanDEM-X was launched successfully in June 2010, another important step in the satellite mission's progress in late September/ early October 2010, when TanDEM-X will be steered into close formation with its "twin" TerraSAR-X to then fly at distances of as little as 250m – a true technological first in the history of spaceborne Earth observation.
As of January 2011, the two satellites will synchronously be collecting interferometric radar data for a unique digital elevation model of global coverage. From 2013, marketing of first subsets of this globally homogeneous data set (12 x 12 m raster, relative vertical accuracy of 2 m) begins; the full global elevation model is expected in 2014.

Even prior to the TanDEM-X DEM's availability, Spot Infoterra offers radar data based elevation modelling: the TerraSAR-X ELEVATION DSM is operationally available today.
An innovative combination of automated processing and manual editing enables the derivation of height information. The resulting digital elevation models feature a 10 m grid spacing and an absolute height accuracy of up to 5 m.
The unique reliability of the weather-independent radar sensor makes these elevation services an ideal complement to the established Spot Infoterra portfolio of elevation data sets such as Reference3D, based on SPOT HRS optical data.