TerraSAR-X Re-Calibration and Dual Receive Antenna Campaigns performed in 2009

Inhalt:
In 2009, two years after launch of TerraSAR-X, dedicated extensive calibration campaigns were performed for both the recalibration of the whole TerraSAR-X system and for the experimental Dual Receive Antenna (DRA) mode. The effective and exact calibration techniques already successfully applied for commissioning TerraSAR-X in 2007 have been shown once again how accurately the complex TerraSAR-X system can be adjusted. More over, deriving the stability of the whole SAR system by real measurements two years after launch, the accuracy could be improved further on. But also the calibration effort could be reduced in contrast to that performed during the commissioning phase. The stability and the accuracy of the whole TerraSAR-X system and especially the radar instrument itself is still of unprecedented quality. The paper describes the results derived from all calibration measurements performed two years after launch of TerraSAR-X.