Airbus
Defence and Space signs ESA contract
for high-precision Earth observation
instrument
28 March 2014
Airbus Defence and Space, will be
the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s)
prime contractor for the development
and construction of the
high-precision Sentinel-5 instrument
worth €144 million. The instrument
will monitor the composition of the
Earth’s atmosphere globally on a
daily basis by taking measurements
of trace gases and aerosols that
have an impact on the climate and
air quality.
“It is only with satellites and
their instruments that we can
observe the environment globally and
continuously. ESA has entrusted us
to take the Copernicus programme
forward by constructing the next key
instrument, the high-precision
Sentinel-5 spectrometer, at our
optical space centre in Ottobrunn,
near Munich - Germany,” said Michael
Menking, Head of Earth observation,
navigation and science programmes at
Space Systems. “To date, we are
already constructing three Sentinel
satellites and various other
Sentinel instruments for the
Copernicus programme that support a
modern, efficient infrastructure for
Earth observation and
geo-information services. This
demonstrates how our high-tech
expertise serves global
environmental monitoring as well as
global security.”
Sentinel-5 will be installed on a
MetOP Second Generation (MetOP-SG)
satellite and fly in a roughly 800
kilometre polar orbit around the
Earth. The high-tech instrument is
expected to be delivered in 2019,
while the launch of the satellite is
scheduled for 2021. With a swath
width of around 2,670 kilometres,
the Sentinel-5 will provide daily
global coverage of the Earth’s
atmosphere with an unprecedented
spatial resolution of 7x7 km2 at
nadir, allowing atmospheric and
climate scientists to accurately
detect and analyse emission sources.
This includes determining the
concentration of trace gases as
significant components in the
atmosphere, such as ozone, nitrogen
dioxide, sulphur dioxide, methane,
formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and
aerosols.
At the heart of Sentinel-5 is an
ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared
and shortwave infrared (UVNS)
imaging spectrometer. This large
spectral bandwidth is an absolute
necessity for measuring the types of
molecules named above. The mass-optimised
instrument, weighing around 270
kilogrammes and with a service life
of more than seven years, consists
of the optical module – comprising a
reflecting telescope, a
beam-splitter optical assembly, two
ultraviolet/visible (UV-Vis) and one
near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer
optics as well as two shortwave
infrared (SWIR) systems and a
calibration subsystem – and two
control electronics assemblies.
Airbus Defence and Space is putting
together a team of around 24
European suppliers for the
development and construction of
Sentinel-5.
Airbus Defence and Space has already
constructed a large number of
optical instruments that
successfully operate on scientific,
Earth observation and meteorological
satellites. The company
gained valuable experience from
developing ERS-1 and Envisat, key
European low-Earth orbit
environmental satellites; the
Sciamachy instrument for mapping the
ozone layer and the development of
the ozone hole; the Sentinel-4, a
dispersive imaging spectrometer
operating from geostationary orbit,
as well as the Near-Infrared
Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the major
European contribution to the NASA
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Climate change, air quality and the
stratospheric ozone layer are
important social issues. Trace gas
emissions and aerosols change the
chemical composition of the
atmosphere, which could have a
lasting detrimental effect on the
Earth’s living conditions: trace or
greenhouse gases heat up the Earth
and cause climate zones to shift and
sea levels to rise. Combustion
products such as nitrogen oxides and
hydrocarbons cause air pollution
from ozone and aerosols, and
chlorofluorocarbons and halons have
reduced the stratospheric ozone
layer. Sentinel-5 observes the
Earth’s atmosphere so that the human
impact on the climate, air quality
and stratospheric ozone can be
monitored more closely and
differentiated from natural
emissions. Furthermore, it will make
predicting the condition of the
atmosphere easier, ranging from
near-realtime, next-day air
pollution forecasts to climate
forecasts for the coming decades.
