19 September 2011
Astrium Services has signed a three-year contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the delivery of satellite images under the terms of the European GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment & Security) programme. This contract, initially worth 17 million euros, is being funded by the European Commission.
The contract covers the provision of optical data from the SPOT 4/5 and FORMOSAT-2 satellites and radar images from the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites, plus additional data from the Pleiades constellation and the SPOT 6/7 satellites. This data will help improve the quality of the geo-information services with which the European governments aim to implement their environmental and crisis-management policies. The data and services will be available to all public users on a European, national and regional level.
According to Patrick Le Roch, Head of GEO-Information at Astrium Services, “This contract adds to the importance of Astrium’s place in the GMES programme. As well as confirming our role as suppliers of satellite-based data, it will also enable us to develop and enhance the services we provide to civil emergency response groups (SAFER) and environmental protection agencies (GEOLAND) in Europe. SAFER has been activated more than a hundred times in the past two years, and GEOLAND has helped to improve environmental protection in Europe by providing more accurate land-usage data.”
Astrium Services is recognized as one of the leaders in the geo-information market, not least thanks to the skills and resources of its now fully integrated, former subsidiaries Spot Image and Infoterra. The company provides decision-makers with multiservice solutions permitting them to increase security, protect the environment, or improve their management of natural resources. It enjoys exclusive access to data from the SPOT and TerraSAR-X satellites,
coupled with a complete range of space-based data sources and airborne acquisition capability enabling it to offer an unrivalled portfolio of Earth observation services and products. This portfolio covers the entire geo-information supply chain, from the generation of images to their exploitation by the end user.
