SEA Wins €5million EarthCARE Satellite System Contract

Cohort, the independent technology group, today announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary SEA has secured a €5million contract to design and build the Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID) Command and Data Management unit, part of the ATLID instrument to be flown on the EarthCARE spacecraft in 2013.

The ATLID instrument measures the reflected signals from an ultraviolet laser to determine the chemical constituents of the atmosphere.  SEA's customer is the instrument prime contractor, EADS Astrium SAS in Toulouse.  The EarthCARE satellite is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is the third ESA Earth Explorer core mission.

This work builds on SEA's existing roles on the EarthCARE spacecraft as the prime contractor for the Broad Band Radiometer instrument (announced in March 2008) and also the provider of the Multi Spectral Imager Instrument Control Unit (announced in July 2010).  Overall SEA has secured well over €20 million worth of contracts in respect of the EarthCARE mission.

Commenting on the contract, Andrew Thomis, Chief Executive of Cohort plc, said: "This is another important and welcome programme win for SEA's Aerospace Division building on its key role in ESA's EarthCARE mission.

"It also demonstrates how Cohort as a whole continues to have success in diversifying and growing its revenues into sectors such as space."