Andrew Yee[_1_]
April 17th 08, 08:11 PM
European Space Agency
Press Release No. 24-2008
Paris, France 17 April 2008
GMES Sentinel-2 satellite contract signed
The European Space Agency and Astrium today signed a Euro 195 million [USD
310 million] contract to provide the first Sentinel-2 earth observation
satellite, devoted to monitoring the land environment, as part of the
European GMES programme. As prime contractor, Astrium is responsible for the
design, development and integration of the satellite, which will perform a
high-end multi-spectral optical imaging mission.
The contract was signed today in Friedrichshafen by Volker Liebig, ESA
Director of Earth Observation, Evert Dudok, President of Astrium Satellites,
and Uwe Minne, Director of Earth Observation & Science for Astrium, in the
presence of the European Commission and Ulrich Kasparick, German
Parliamentary State Secretary at the Transport, Building & Urban Affairs
Ministry.
Underlining the value of this mission for Europe, Volker Liebig commented:
"This satellite is an important element of GMES and will enable Europe to
continuously observe changes in the environment."
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) aims to deliver
environment and security services and is being led by the European
Commission. It is the European response to the ever-increasing demands of
effective environmental policies. At the same time, it is the European
contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
ESA is responsible for implementation of the GMES Space Component, a set of
earth observation missions involving ESA, EU/ESA Member States and other
partners. Central elements of the Space Component are the five families of
Sentinel missions.
Sentinel-2 will deliver crucial data for information services to the EU and
its Member States under GMES. The services fed by it cover areas such as
climate change, sustainable development, environmental policies, European
civil protection, common agricultural policy, development aid, humanitarian
aid and the Common Foreign & Security Policy.
Sentinel-2 will support the operational generation of products such as the
mapping of land cover, land use, change detection and geophysical variables.
The mission objective is systematic coverage of the earth's land surface
(from -56 deg to +83 deg latitude) to produce cloud-free imagery typically
every 15 to 30 days over Europe.
Sentinel-2 features a 290 km-wide coverage, 10-20 m spatial resolution, 13
optical channel instrument (operating from visible-near infrared to
shortwave infrared) and will ensure enhanced-quality continuity with
existing missions Spot and Landsat. It will provide improved revisit time,
swath width, coverage area, spectral bands, calibration and image quality.
These features will enable it to contribute effectively to GMES needs for
operational land and emergency services.
ESA carried out the Sentinel-2 definition phase over 2005/2006. The
implementation phase started in October 2007. The launch of the first
Sentinel-2 satellite is planned for 2012.
The industrial consortium led by Astrium-GmbH (platform and satellite prime)
includes a number of core-team partners: Astrium SAS is responsible for the
payload instrument and system support activities; Boostec (F) is providing
the three-mirror Silicon carbide telescope; CASA (E) is responsible for
satellite structural and thermal activities; Jena-Optronik (D) is
responsible for the instrument electrical architecture including video
signal processing and data compression; Sener (E) is supplying the
instrument calibration and shutter mechanism.
For further information, please contact:
Francois Spoto
GMES Sentinel-2 Project Manager
Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes
Tel.: +31 71 565 4509
Press Release No. 24-2008
Paris, France 17 April 2008
GMES Sentinel-2 satellite contract signed
The European Space Agency and Astrium today signed a Euro 195 million [USD
310 million] contract to provide the first Sentinel-2 earth observation
satellite, devoted to monitoring the land environment, as part of the
European GMES programme. As prime contractor, Astrium is responsible for the
design, development and integration of the satellite, which will perform a
high-end multi-spectral optical imaging mission.
The contract was signed today in Friedrichshafen by Volker Liebig, ESA
Director of Earth Observation, Evert Dudok, President of Astrium Satellites,
and Uwe Minne, Director of Earth Observation & Science for Astrium, in the
presence of the European Commission and Ulrich Kasparick, German
Parliamentary State Secretary at the Transport, Building & Urban Affairs
Ministry.
Underlining the value of this mission for Europe, Volker Liebig commented:
"This satellite is an important element of GMES and will enable Europe to
continuously observe changes in the environment."
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) aims to deliver
environment and security services and is being led by the European
Commission. It is the European response to the ever-increasing demands of
effective environmental policies. At the same time, it is the European
contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
ESA is responsible for implementation of the GMES Space Component, a set of
earth observation missions involving ESA, EU/ESA Member States and other
partners. Central elements of the Space Component are the five families of
Sentinel missions.
Sentinel-2 will deliver crucial data for information services to the EU and
its Member States under GMES. The services fed by it cover areas such as
climate change, sustainable development, environmental policies, European
civil protection, common agricultural policy, development aid, humanitarian
aid and the Common Foreign & Security Policy.
Sentinel-2 will support the operational generation of products such as the
mapping of land cover, land use, change detection and geophysical variables.
The mission objective is systematic coverage of the earth's land surface
(from -56 deg to +83 deg latitude) to produce cloud-free imagery typically
every 15 to 30 days over Europe.
Sentinel-2 features a 290 km-wide coverage, 10-20 m spatial resolution, 13
optical channel instrument (operating from visible-near infrared to
shortwave infrared) and will ensure enhanced-quality continuity with
existing missions Spot and Landsat. It will provide improved revisit time,
swath width, coverage area, spectral bands, calibration and image quality.
These features will enable it to contribute effectively to GMES needs for
operational land and emergency services.
ESA carried out the Sentinel-2 definition phase over 2005/2006. The
implementation phase started in October 2007. The launch of the first
Sentinel-2 satellite is planned for 2012.
The industrial consortium led by Astrium-GmbH (platform and satellite prime)
includes a number of core-team partners: Astrium SAS is responsible for the
payload instrument and system support activities; Boostec (F) is providing
the three-mirror Silicon carbide telescope; CASA (E) is responsible for
satellite structural and thermal activities; Jena-Optronik (D) is
responsible for the instrument electrical architecture including video
signal processing and data compression; Sener (E) is supplying the
instrument calibration and shutter mechanism.
For further information, please contact:
Francois Spoto
GMES Sentinel-2 Project Manager
Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes
Tel.: +31 71 565 4509