Le Bourget 2007 - Planet Earth has been monitored daily by satellites for about 30 years. In its early days, Earth observation was an activity dedicated almost exclusively to scientific research. But gradually more and more practical applications have emerged, some with distinctly commercial aims. The latest stage in this development is the German satellite TerraSAR-X, which will record radar images of the Earth. Infoterra GmbH, a company formed five years ago in Friedrichshafen, holds the exclusive rights for the commercial marketing of these data and the resulting geo-information products, including processed mapping products and various other forms of digital information.
Infoterra GmbH is a spin-off and wholly owned subsidiary of Astrium GmbH, and has been in existence since 2001. The company collects and processes remote sensing data acquired by satellites and aircraft to produce customised information products. The radar images acquired by TerraSAR-X will enable the company to venture into entirely new areas of business.
One satellite providing custom data for a multitude of customers
TerraSAR-X is the first nationally owned remote-sensing satellite to be developed and operated on the basis of a public private partnership (PPP). It was built by the space company Astrium on behalf of the German Aerospace Center DLR, under a joint financing arrangement. The DLR is the owner of the satellite data and co-ordinates their scientific use, while Infoterra GmbH has the sole rights to the commercial marketing of these data. From the very outset, the design concept of TerraSAR-X differed from that of earlier remote-sensing satellites.
“In the past, projects to build and operate Earth observation satellites were based mainly on scientific objectives. Once the data were available, an attempt was made to derive the relevant commercial applications,” says Infoterra managing director Joerg Herrmann. “With TerraSAR-X, we have taken the opposite approach. First we analysed the market potential and assessed the demand. Then we developed the satellite.”
The advantages of the new satellite can be summed up in a few phrases: TerraSAR-X circles the Earth in a polar orbit at an altitude of around 514 kilometres, enabling it to cover every point on the surface of the globe within the space of two and a half days, with a probability of 95%. The fact that it is equipped with radar rather than optical sensors gives it several decisive advantages: it illuminates its own area of interest, always according to precise parameters, it operates day and night and can penetrate cloud cover. Another feature of major interest to users is that it offers a resolution of as high as one meter. “Never before has a product of such technical sophistication been designed entirely on the basis of the customers’ needs,” states Herrmann.
Customers and partners in Japan and Australia
Long before the satellite’s launch, Infoterra started prospecting for customers and partners, at the same time devising some interesting co-operation models. In the simplest case, users can buy unprocessed, raw image data from the company and edit them to suit their own needs. Alternatively, it is possible to purchase a complete geo-information product from Infoterra, tailored to the customer’s requirements.
Nevertheless, the most important service in terms of day-to-day operations is the Direct Access Service, which offers contractual partners the option of receiving TerraSAR-X data directly at their own receiving stations. “We conceived this service as a model for resellers with significant market coverage in a specific region,” Herrmann explains. By subscribing to this service, the distribution partner also obtains the right to process the raw data in accordance with the end user’s requirements and to market the processed data.
Even before the satellite’s going into service, Infoterra signed a five-year contract worth over ten million euros in early 2005 with the Pasco Corporation in Japan. Under the terms of this contract, Infoterra has agreed to set up a receiving station in Japan that will allow Pasco to download data directly from the satellite. The company’s team of experts will use these data to generate products tailored to the needs of customers in the Japanese market – calling on Infoterra’s expert advice where necessary.
The data requirements of the Japanese partners are typical of those in many other regions of the world. Because the country lies on a fault line that increases the risk of earthquakes, such as the Kobe quake that caused significant damage in 1995, the Japanese authorities are extremely interested in a system that will allow them to obtain a rapid and reliable overview of a disaster zone, enabling the emergency services to organise their rescue operations in the most efficient way possible. “The images have to be available even if vision is obscured by smoke or clouds,” relates Herrmann. And this is precisely what TerraSAR-X is capable of delivering.
Another important application is the surveillance of national maritime protection zones. Of course, this also applies to other countries with extensive coastlines, such as Canada. At present, this type of activity is mostly assured by naval patrol aircraft, but this is very cost-intensive. The availability of satellite data can save a considerable amount of time and money.
Yet another potential market can be found in the newly industrialising and developing nations, whose cartography is often based on maps produced decades years ago and is correspondingly inaccurate, and where the topography has still not been charted to any sufficient degree in certain areas. Countries with plenty of financial resources are able to deploy aircraft to conduct geographical surveys. But this is a very costly undertaking, and in many cases the climatic conditions are a severe hindrance to the work of the cartographers. The tropical regions are often obscured by dense cloud, making it almost impossible to rely on optical images obtained by satellite or aircraft. As a result, it can take a long time to produce a full cartographic survey of a region. TerraSAR-X can perform the same work much faster and at lower cost. “We can completely cover a country the size of Germany in two and a half months using TerraSAR-X. Then it takes another two and a half months to produce maps from the radar images on a scale of 1:50.000,” says Herrmann. That’s the same resolution as a hiking map.
Over the coming years, Infoterra intends to build up a global network of around 20 direct-access partners. The first negotiations are already underway.
Other types of co-operation model are envisaged alongside the direct-access partnerships. There are bound to be major customers who don’t necessarily want to build and operate their own ground station. Such reference partners can purchase data from Infoterra, and possibly also process and distribute the data themselves. This model would be appropriate for regional markets where it is not yet certain that there will be a significant demand.
In June 2006, Infoterra selected the Australian company Apogee Imaging International, based in Adelaide, as its first reference partner. Apogee markets geo-information products not only in Australia but also in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands and Vanuta. Data from TerraSAR-X will probably be used in the Australian CoastWatch programme. “We chose Apogee because the company possesses the best expertise in radar remote sensing and because it is a strong partner in the Australasian region,” explains Herrmann. At a future date it is possible that Apogee might evolve from a reference partner into a direct-access partner.
Keeping up-to-date in Europe
While hardly any reliable maps exist in many newly industrialising and developing nations, map coverage of Western Europe is more or less complete. Germany, in particular, has a full set of aerial photographs of its whole territory. But Infoterra has nevertheless identified a need for its services in specialised areas, such as the surveyor’s offices of the Federal States, who are charged by the government with the responsibility of updating their official maps every five years. In the past, this work has been carried out in a variety of ways. Either the building authorities of the various administrative areas, report any changes, chartered surveyors equipped with GPS acquire the information, or aircraft are used to produce updated maps. All of these methods are time-consuming and expensive in terms of equipment and manpower.
Infoterra offers an easier method of updating cartographic information, which it will soon be testing in collaboration with the Federal States of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Brandenburg. Infoterra will produce maps of each state at regular intervals. The old and new versions of each map will then be compared automatedly, producing a “delta version” that only shows the changes that have been identified between the two survey dates. Using this comparative map, the authorities can then decide where they need to carry out new surveys in the field. At present, this model is being studied in collaboration with a number of surveyor’s offices; later in the year it will be tested using real data. “We will then be able to tell whether the method genuinely helps to reduce costs,” says Herrmann. If the new method is accepted in Germany, it might also be of interest to other partners, for instance in Japan.
These are just a few examples out of a wide range of possible applications. Another use of maps based on TerraSAR-X data is the rapid and inexpensive measurement of the extent of damage caused by violent windstorms. The availability of precise, up-to-date maps of any region of the world would make it easier to co-ordinate humanitarian aid projects in the wake of natural disasters and the subsequent reconstruction phase. Another useful application would be the compilation of inventories of forestry resources, especially in newly industrialising and developing nations. Forestry managers often need a basic inventory of existing stocks to plan their work, or want to know what changes are taking place. And lastly, radar maps could be a useful tool for strategic reconnaissance and mission planning by military forces deployed in crisis regions.
“In our first year of operation, we aim to gather a great deal of experience, during which we are bound to come up with applications that we haven’t even considered so far,” remarks Herrmann.
Scientific and commercial applications are closely interlinked
The public-private partnership agreement precisely defines the way the data are to be used. Infoterra has been granted exclusive rights for the commercial exploitation of the data, while the DLR controls their scientific use. But these two areas of responsibility will not be handled entirely separately. On the contrary, a partial amalgamation of the two activities is envisaged, enabling new commercial applications to be developed as an offshoot of scientific projects. Here too, a number of different models are conceivable.
Researchers and private-sector users will be permitted to access TerraSAR-X data at a modest price in order to develop innovative ideas. If this type of upstream research project results in a commercially marketable product, it can be sold via the Infoterra distribution network. Infoterra can acquire a license for the product and market it independently, or alternatively the product developers may prefer to handle the marketing themselves. In the latter case, however, being a commercial venture, the seller is obliged to purchase data from Infoterra. “Our aim is to expand into other market segments by introducing new products on a regular basis, and to thus increase our revenues,” says Herrmann.
A digital elevation model of the whole Earth thanks to TanDEM-X
In a few years’ time, another new market segment will be opened up by the TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement) project. A second satellite, virtually identical to TerraSAR-X in design, is due to be launched in 2009. From then on, the twin satellites will fly in a tandem constellation, separated by a distance varying between 500 metres and two kilometres, synchronously scanning the Earth’s surface with their radar beams. The satellite constellation will record a three-dimensional elevation model of the whole Earth thanks to the stereoscopic vision of its “two eyes” – the same principle as that of human sight. It will only take three years to survey the 150 million square kilometres of the land surface of the globe. The resulting digital elevation model will represent the Earth in unprecedented detail, based on grid scale of 12 meters (the width of a two-lane road) and providing elevation data to an accuracy of better than two metres.
Once completed, this elevation model will be the only one of its kind in the world. In this respect, it might be noted, we have more accurate data of our neighbouring planet Mars at present. The only similar data we possess of our own planet Earth consists of models of land mass in specific regions and of varying quality, which have to be assembled to form a global whole like a giant jigsaw puzzle. For some regions there is no data at all. And because today’s existing land models have been produced using different methods, there are gaps and inconsistencies at the interfaces between them. By contrast, the global digital elevation model created by TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X will be produced in a single operation. An essential factor is the use of radar, with its unique capabilities.
The second satellite for the TanDEM-X mission is also being built under a public private partnership arrangement. DLR and Astrium will share the cost of the satellite, totalling almost 85 million euros, by contributing 56 million and 26 million euros respectively. The remaining three million euros will be raised by selling spare payload capacity on the satellite.
About Infoterra GmbH
Infoterra GmbH, Germany, was founded in 2001 for the commercial exploitation of the TerraSAR-X data. The company is responsible not only for the commercial distribution of the data, but for the development and marketing of derived geo-information products and services as well.
Infoterra GmbH employs a workforce of 40 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and is part of the Infoterra Group, which comprises companies in France, Germany and the United Kingdom with over 300 employees and a turnover of more than 50 Mio Euro.
About Astrium:
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2006, Astrium had a turnover of €3.2 billion and 11,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are: the business units Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, and Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment, and its wholly owned subsidiary Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2006, EADS generated revenues of €39.4 billion and employed a workforce of more than 116, 000.
Media Contacts:
Astrium
Mathias Pikelj +49 (0) 7545 8 9123
Infoterra
Mareike Doepke +49 (0) 7545 8 3924
TerraSAR-X at a glance
Height: 4.88m
Diameter: 2.4m
Launch mass: 1,230kg
of which payload: approx. 400kg
Radar frequency: 9.65 GHz
Power consumption: 800 Watt (average)
Resolution: 1m, 3m, 16m (depending on image size)
Launch vehicle: Dnepr 1 (former SS-18)
Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Orbit altitude: 514km
Tilt angle towards equator: 97.4° (Sun-synchronous)
Life time: at least 5 years
TerraSAR-X is the first German satellite implemented in a so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between DLR and Astrium: Europe’s leading satellite specialist. Astrium contributes to the costs of development, construction and deployment of the spacecraft. The scientific exploitation of TerraSAR-X data is the responsibility of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), while Infoterra GmbH, a subsidiary of Astrium, is responsible for commercial marketing. Surrounding the Earth on a polar orbit at an altitude of 514 kilometres, TerraSAR-X with its active antenna will collect new-quality X-band radar data of the entire planet. TerraSAR-X operates independent of weather conditions, cloud cover and illumination and will be capable of delivering radar data with a resolution of up to one metre.
