December 21, 2023

Christmas markets as seen by TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X

Christmas magic at the baseball stadium of Washington D.C. in the USA
In December, the Washington Nationals stadium becomes an ice fairy tale, the Enchant Christmas. Visitors can expect a huge Christmas tree, ice skating rinks, a maze of lights and, of course, lots of sales stands. The image was compiled from a TanDEM-X image taken on 4 November 2023 and a TerraSAR-X image taken on 7 December 2023.
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Christmas market at Union Square in New York City, USA
The Union Square Holiday Market is held in the centre of Manhattan. South Place at the southern end of Union Square is home to a variety of culinary delights and arts and crafts. The images for this picture were taken on 05 November 2023 by TerraSAR-X and on 08 December 2023 by TanDEM-X and then combined.
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Maritime Christmas market in the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, Germany
The actual Lübeck Christmas market takes place on the Market Square in the Old Town. Directly to the north is the historic Christmas market on the square in front of St Mary's Church (oval marking). There is also the Maritime Christmas Market on Lübeck's Koberg in the the Old Town with stands and Hanseatic specialties, as well as the Christmas bazaar of a marzipan manufacturer. The image was compiled from two Staring SpotLight images acquired on 13 November 2023 and 5 December 2023 using the TerraSAR-X satellite.
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  • Images acquired by the German radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X show Christmas markets around the world.
  • For this purpose, two or more images were taken from the same angle using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology.
  • The changes in land use outside the Christmas market season are clearly recognisable.
  • TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X have been providing high-resolution 2D and 3D images since 2007 and 2010 respectively, regardless of weather conditions and daylight.
  • Focus: Space, Earth observation

To mark the end of the year, the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) embarked on a search for Christmas markets around the world. The result – fascinating radar images that take the viewer into winding alleyways or bring the special atmosphere of Christmas markets by the sea a little closer.

In Nuremberg, for example, the Christkind opens the 'little town of wood and cloth' on the Friday before the first Advent each year from the balcony of the Frauenkirche. Unfortunately, neither cloth nor wood are materials that can be observed particularly well with radar satellites. For this reason – and due to the small size of the market stands – they are not clearly visible in the pictures. What you can recognise very well, however, are changes. These result partly from the crowds of people present during the opening hours of the Christmas market, but also from the comparison of images taken before the market was set up with images taken during the running of the market.

Christkindles market in Nuremberg, Germany
The Christkindlesmarkt has been held on the main market square in Nuremberg for almost 400 years. With its stands made of cloth and wood, it attracts over two million visitors from all over the world. The orange-coloured area in the centre of the image shows the main area of the Christkindlesmarkt on the Hauptmarkt. Just below it to the left on the Pegnitz river, you find the Christmas punchbowl village. Both can be seen in the centre of the image. And in 2023, the Nuremberg Winter Village was set up on Jakobsplatz in the lower left-hand area of the Old Town. This image is a combination of an image acquired by the TanDEM-X satellite on 13 November 2023 and one acquired by the TerraSAR-X satellite on 5 December 2023 to make the changes visible.
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Maritime Christmas market in Lübeck,Germany
The actual Lübeck Christmas market takes place on the Market Square in the Old Town. Directly to the north is the historic Christmas market on the square in front of St Mary's Church (oval marking). There is also the Maritime Christmas Market on Lübeck's Koberg in the the Old Town) with stands and Hanseatic specialties, as well as the Christmas bazaar of a marzipan manufacturer. The image was compiled from two Staring SpotLight images acquired on 13 November 2023 and 5 December 2023 using the TerraSAR-X satellite.
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Christmas markets around City Hall Square in Vienna, Austria
The Christmas market in Vienna takes place on and around Rathausplatz (oval marking). It offers a variety of stands, a nativity scene trail and an ice skating rink on the tree-covered square. Many of the stalls were already set up before the first image was captured, which is why there is little change to the square itself. There are also various other markets such as the Christmas village on Maria-Theresien-Platz (at the bottom) or the Altwiener Christkindlmarkt on the Freyung, on the right of the image. The images for this picture were acquired with the TerraSAR-X satellite on 9 November 2023 and 1 December 2023 and then combined to make the changes visible.
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The radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X have each produced two or more SAR images from the same angle.The difference between the images reveals changes, which are shown in orange. Areas such as parks, trees or lawns that have only changed slightly between the images are shown in green. Fixed structures such as buildings or streets are shown in blue.

We hope you enjoy the virtual tour and wish you a wonderful holiday season!

About the mission

The TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X missions were implemented on behalf of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz; BMWK). They are the first German satellites to have been created as part of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between DLR and Airbus Defence and Space GmbH. 

DLR is responsible for the construction and operation of the ground segment as well as for the scientific use of the data and its distribution to external researchers worldwide. Airbus Defence and Space GmbH contributed to the costs of the development, construction and launching of the satellites. The Geo-Intelligence programme line at Airbus Defence and Space is responsible for the commercial marketing of the data. Since 2016, the project has continued under a follow-on agreement with Airbus.

TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X are particularly suitable for observing changes on the Earth's surface. They are capable of capturing 2D and 3D images with high resolution and independent of weather conditions and daylight. Both satellites provide high-quality radar images for a wide range of applications in the scientific, commercial and security sectors.

Contact

Markus Bachmann

Ger­man Aerospace Cen­ter (DLR)
Mi­crowaves and Radar In­sti­tute
Münchener Straße 20, 82234 Weßling

Michael Müller

Editor
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Corporate Communications
Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne
Tel: +49 2203 601-3717