Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) satellite. (Credit: Airbus)
DARMSTADT, Germany (EUMETSAT PR) — Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, EUMETSAT, will become the largest operator of the Copernicus programme’s Sentinel satellite missions under an agreement signed with the European Commission today. Copernicus is a component of the European Union Space Programme. It looks at our planet and its environment for the benefit of all European citizens. It offers information services that draw from satellite Earth Observation and in-situ (non-space) data.
ROME (Thales Alenia Space PR) — Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%) announced today that it has signed a 93 million euro [$110 million], first tranche of the 495 million euro [$585.85 million] global contract, with the European Space Agency (ESA) to build the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) environmental monitoring satellites.
The CIMR mission is part of the expansion of the Copernicus Space Component programme of the European Space Agency, ESA, in partnership with the European Commission. The European Copernicus flagship programme provides Earth observation and in situ data and a broad range of services for environmental monitoring and protection, climate monitoring, natural disaster assessment to improve the quality of life of European citizens.
2 new contracts signed today between Thales Alenia Space and the European Space Agency in the presence of French minister, Bruno Le Maire and Italian Undersecretary Riccardo Fraccaro
Involved in 5 out of 6 Copernicus expansion new missions
Prime contractor for CHIME, CIMR and ROSE-L, leading industrial consortium from France and Italy
CANNES (Thales Alenia Space PR) – Thales Alenia Space, a Joint Venture between Thales (67 %) and Leonardo (33 %), signed today with the European Space Agency (ESA) two new contracts in the frame of the new high-priority Copernicus satellite missions planned to expand the current capabilities of the Sentinels and serve EU policy as well as citizens needs.
PARIS, November 13, 2020 (ESA PR) — Today, ESA signed contracts with Thales Alenia Space in France and in Italy, and Airbus in Spain to build three of the new high-priority Copernicus satellite missions: CHIME, CIMR and LSTM, respectively.
Each mission is set to help address different major environmental challenges such as sustainable agriculture management, food security, the monitoring of polar ice supporting the EU Integrated Policy for the Arctic, and all will be used to understand climate change.
Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will map up to 95% of Earth’s ice-free ocean every 10 days in order to monitor sea level variability. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab)
BREMEN, Germany (OHB System PR) — OHB System AG, a subsidiary of Bremen-based space and technology group OHB SE (Prime Standard, ISIN DE0005936124), has been selected by the European Space Agency ESA as the prime contractor for the CO2M mission (CO2 Monitoring Mission in the Copernicus program).
This mission includes the Copernicus satellites, which will measure global anthropogenic CO2 emissions and thus play a key role in studying the causes of climate change and monitoring it.
OHB System and OHB Italia will also be responsible for the payload on two further missions (CHIME: Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment and CIMR: Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer) as subcontractors of Thales Alenia Space.
The order volume resulting from today’s bid decisions is expected to be more than EUR 800 million [$900 million]. Final contract negotiations will start shortly and contract signings are expected in the coming weeks.
Copernicus is a satellite Earth observation program of the European Commission and the European Space Agency ESA. It provides Earth observation data for environmental protection, climate monitoring, natural disaster assessment and other social tasks.
In addition, ESA’s Industrial Policy Committee (IPC) has approved OHB System’s proposal for the HERA asteroid defense mission for final negotiations. Implementation of the HERA mission has already commenced. The contract is expected to be worth around EUR 130 million [$146 million].
Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will map up to 95% of Earth’s ice-free ocean every 10 days in order to monitor sea level variability. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab)
On 1 July 2020, the European Space Agency awarded contracts for the development and construction of six further Copernicus satellites.
Contracts with a value of more than 800 million euro are being awarded to space companies in Germany, a high percentage of which are SMEs.
The new satellites are intended to help find answers to the global challenges posed by climate change, population growth and environmental problems.
BONN, Germany (DLR PR) — Sentinel satellites are at the heart of Copernicus, Europe’s largest Earth observation programme. Sentinels are already reliably and continuously providing large amounts of data on the state of the climate, vegetation and oceans. Now, six more ‘Earth Guardians’, the High Priority Candidate Missions (HPCM), are being added.
