Calibration of the X-SAR System

In April 1994 the X-SAR was flown as part of the SIR-C/X-SAR mission on the Space Shuttle. The second flight is scheduled for October '94.DLR has developed the German processing and archiving facility (D-PAF) and is responsible for the calibration of all X-SAR data products. Before the mission this task includes a detailed analysis of the overall system to localize the main error sources and the development of algorithms and procedures to correct these errors. During the mission we were running a rather big calibration campaign. Post mission activities include the derivation of the antenna pattern and the absolute calibration factor as well as detailed performance analyses.