Astrium to build the future optical reconnaissance satellites for the French Armed Forces

 2 December 2010

CNES, the French space agency, has notified Astrium that the DGA, the French arms procurement agency, has awarded the company a € 795 million contract for two satellites for the optical space component (CSO) that will replace the current HELIOS 2 military observation satellites. The first satellite is scheduled to enter orbit in December 2016. The contract also includes an option for a third satellite.

As prime contractor for the CSO satellites programme, Astrium will provide the agile platform and avionics, and will also be responsible for the integration work, testing and delivery of the satellites to CNES. Thales Alenia Space will provide Astrium with the very-high resolution optical instrument.

100 times more powerful with 30% less costs

Astrium will be making use of new technology to deliver satellites that are 100 times more powerful than the current generation, all at reduced costs.  Astrium has drawn on the latest technological advances and operational feedback from its entire fleet of reconnaissance satellites to cut costs by 30% over the last decade. Astrium can now boast 35 low-orbit satellites that have totalled 350 years of service in orbit.

The satellite's tremendous agility and stability enable it to quickly provide users with extremely high-quality images, even for the most complex acquisition schedules.

Astrium has made use of the latest generation of gyroscopic actuators, fibre optic gyroscopes, on-board electronics and control software to optimise weight and inertia and significantly increase the pointing speed.

The satellite will also carry a Galileo navigator developed by Astrium and the latest generation of Sodern star trackers.