COSMO-SkyMed 2nd Generation Satellite Contract Awarded
Two new COSMO-SkyMed 2nd Generation satellites, to be built by Thales Alenia Space, will complete the the constellation and lead to full operational capacity of the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) observation services provided by the four satellites of the COSMO-Second Generation. The previous COSMO-SkyMed first generation satellites are still operational despite exceeding their expected lifetime.
“The users’ community can rely on the operational continuity of the COSMO-SkyMed system and benefit from the evolutions and improved performances achieved at both Space and Ground Segments level thanks to these additional two second-generation satellites.”
Luigi Pasquali, CEO of Telespazio.
The new satellites will contribute to the continuous monitoring of the Earth's surface, to safety-related needs and to the management of natural events including support to damage assessment activities and rescuing operations. They will complete the constellation, along with the Proto-Flight Model (PFM) Launched in 2019 and the Flight Model 2 (FM2) – currently under integration phase in Thales Alenia Space Assembly Integration and Test (AIT) Facilities in Rome – and scheduled for launch at the end of 2021 with a VEGA-C launcher.
"We are extremely satisfied to have signed this contract, which will enable the completion of the Second Generation of COSMO-SkyMed, guaranteeing a further leap forward in terms of technology and performance for the entire constellation, consolidating Thales Alenia Space's leadership in the Earth Observation radar sector worldwide," said Massimo Claudio Comparini, Senior Executive Vice President Observation, Exploration and Navigation at Thales Alenia Space. “I therefore believe that it is particularly important to thank the Italian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defence for their commitment to the national space industry in achieving this result. Keeping the entire COSMO-SkyMed constellation at the cutting edge by means of two additional second-generation satellites to be built is of paramount importance to preserve the leadership of our entire industry and its supply chain in a constantly evolving space market".
“We are proud to confirm the role of Telespazio in making such a strategic asset and are grateful to the Italian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defence for the contract on the third and fourth CSG satellites”, said Luigi Pasquali, CEO of Telespazio. “The users’ community can rely on the operational continuity of the COSMO-SkyMed system and benefit from the evolutions and improved performances achieved at both Space and Ground Segments level thanks to these additional two second-generation satellites.”
The primary goal of CSG is to provide a dual - civil and defense - user base with Earth Observation services through a broad portfolio of products, obtained in various operational modes of the SAR sensor, in both narrow field and ultra-fine resolution modes and wide field modes.
The design of the second-generation SAR sensor, together with the flexibility features provided by the Ground Segment, represent an important improvement of the state-of-the-art technology for the Earth Observation systems based on radar technology, in terms of image quality, planning and image-acquisition versatility, sensing agility and ground-based updating and processing capabilities, including data exploitation.
The versatility and electronic agility of the CSG SAR payload enable a new operational mode, which allows the simultaneous acquisition of two areas located hundreds of kilometers apart on the Earth’s surface.
(Image provided with Thales Alenia Space news release)