The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and European satellite manufacturer Astrium GmbH signed an Aug. 30 contract for building the TanDEM-X satellite.

Due to launch in 2009 for a five-year operation, the Earth-observing radar satellite system, along with the nearly identical TerraSAR-X (scheduled for launch in October 2006), will be able to completely survey the Earth’s land surface within three years for production of a global Digital Elevation Model, showing data accurate to within two meters’ variance.