Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) flight system design and operations overview

Yuhsyen Shen; Scott J. Shaffer; Rolando L. Jordan

doi:10.1117/12.410595

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21 December 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) flight system design and operations overview

Yuhsyen Shen, Scott J. Shaffer, Rolando L. Jordan

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Proceedings Volume 4152, Microwave Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere and Environment II; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.410595
Event: Second International Asia-Pacific Symposium on Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Environment, and Space, 2000, Sendai, Japan

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission SRTM), with emphasis on flight system implementation and mission operations from systems engineering perspective. Successfully flown in February, 2000, the SRTM's primary payload consists of several subsystems to form the first spaceborne dual-frequency (C- band and X-band) fixed baseline interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR0 system, with the mission objective to acquire data sets over 80% of Earth's landmass for height reconstruction. The paper provides system architecture, unique design features, engineering budgets, design verification, in-flight checkout and data acquisition of the SRTM payload, in particular for the C-band system. Mission operation and post-mission data processing activities are also presented. The complexity of the SRTM as a system, the ambitious mission objective, the demanding requirements and the high inter-dependency between multi-disciplined subsystems posed many challenges. The engineering experience and the insight thus gained have important implications for future spaceborne interferometric SAR mission design and implementation.

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Yuhsyen Shen, Scott J. Shaffer, and Rolando L. Jordan "Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) flight system design and operations overview", Proc. SPIE 4152, Microwave Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere and Environment II, (21 December 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.410595

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