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PD0RDD > NASA 04.11.98 18:51l 115 Lines 5666 Bytes #-9820 (0) @ WW
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To : NASA@WW
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ESA/DLR JOINT PRESS RELEASE
---------------------------
ESA astronaut Gerhard Thiele from Germany assigned to his first flight
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
are pleased to announce the assignment of Gerhard Thiele, as Mission
Specialist, to the STS-99 flight. This Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
(X-SAR/SRTM), dedicated to ecological mapping of the Earth's surface, is
scheduled for September 1999.
Gerhard Thiele, a physicist, was trained as a Payload Specialist by the
DLR and was involved in the German D2 mission as member of the back-up
crew. During the D2 flight, he was responsible for communications
between the astronauts on board the Space Shuttle Columbia and the
scientists in the control centre at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. He has
since started Mission Specialist training at NASA-JSC to qualify him for
missions on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
Following the ESA Council decision in March 1998 to set up a single
European astronaut corps, Gerhard Thiele and four other astronauts from
various national agencies have joined the ESA astronauts in that corps,
now composed of 14 astronauts. Their home base is ESA's European
Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. They will prepare for mission
opportunities available to ESA as the European partner in the
International Space Station, and for missions agreed between European
national agencies and the United States or Russia such as Thiele's.
For the SRTM mission, the Shuttle will have a complex arrangement of
radar systems on board, including a high-tech instrument made in
Germany. The mission's objective is to create a three-dimensional image
of the Earth. For the first time the planet's surface will be
simultaneously scanned from two different perspectives. Opening the
cargo bay will bring our planet into sight of a 12-metre radar antenna
and a second system, mounted on a 60-metre telescopic arm. With this
configuration, a great technological challenge, the Earth can be viewed
by two "radar eyes" at the same time. Both radar systems can receive the
returning signal in more or less "stereo" mode. This is the mission's
essential innovation.
Topographic surveying of the Earth supplies crucial basic data to solve
many problems in the areas of geoscience and environmental protection.
Radar is ideally suited for remote sensing, with two decisive advantages
over conventional optical procedures: radar can "see" both at night and
through cloud cover, so that a complete survey of the Earth's surface
can be made in just a few days.
Topographic data and digital surface models obtained from the Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission will pave the way for a wealth of applications:
digital altitude records will serve to improve processed products based
on data delivered by other European environmental monitoring satellites
and are a prerequisite for extremely precise cartographic products.
Records of this kind can also be helpful in any extension of cellular
telephone networks, above all in identifying optimum locations for
transmitting masts.
Finally, disaster control management (e.g. in the case of flooding) also
depends on such data for exact basic information on the situation in the
areas affected. Weather forecasting and climate modelling will also
benefit from exact topographic data.
The six astronauts on board the Shuttle will have the difficult task of
precisely extending the telescopic mast and aligning it with the
antenna. They will also control the data recordings,a volume of almost
3000 gigabytes, that will provide an almost complete survey of the
Earth's surface.
SRTM is a joint project of NASA, NIMA (National Image and Mapping
Agency), DLR (German Aerospace Centre) and ASI (Italian Space Agency).
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is responsible for development of
the C-Band Radar Interferometer System, DLR for development of the
X-Band Radar System. Dornier Satellite System, a subsidiary of
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa, Munich), is the main industrial contractor
for development of the X-SAR radar system.
A picture of Gerhard Thiele can be downloaded from DLR's homepage at the
following address :
http://www.dlr.de/pressestelle/pm46_98.htm
For further information, see the following Web pages:
- European Astronaut Centre:
http://www.estec.esa.int/spaceflight/astronaut - ESA in
general:http://www.estec.esa.int
For further information, please contact :
Vanadis Weber (DLR) Tel.: 02203/6001 3068 Fax.: 02203/ 6001 3249 E-mail:
Vanadis.Weber@dlr.de
ESA Public Relations Division Tel. +33(0)1 53 69 71 55 Fax. +33(0)1 53
69 76 90
.
Greetings from Hans at Maarssenbroek ³~ The Netherlands
HomebBs : PI8WNO × .
E-Mail : pd0rdd@hj-lammers.demon.nl ××׶ Úп
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