Operational digital 3D-image acquisition and photogrammetric processing with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC)

The consequent way to complete the digital line in photogrammetric processing is to perform digital data acquisition. Since digital frame cameras for photogrammetric purposes will not be available within the next years, digital line scanners will not only fill this gap, they have several advantages, as there is the permanent nadir viewing geometry. At the Institute of Planetary Exploration of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) has been designed for international missions to planet Mars. During the past three years an airborne version of this camera, the HRSC-A, has been successfully applied in many flight campaigns. The HRSC-A, fulfilling all requirements of a photogrammetric sensor, is based on the along-track triple-stereo principle. It combines 3D-capabilities and high resolution with multispectral data acquisition. A. high-end GPS/INS system yields precise and high-frequent orientation data for the acquired image lines. In order to handle these data, a completely automated photogrammetric processing system, developed in cooperation between the Technical University of Berlin and the DLR, is used to generate impressive multispectral 3D-image products of HRSC-A data combined with accuracies in planimetry and height of better than 0.1 parts per thousand of the flight altitude.