Astrium to Build Future Optical Reconnaissance Satellites

December 13, 2010 at 9:20 am | Posted in Space Law Current Events | Leave a comment

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Paris – CNES, the French space agency, has notified Astrium that the DGA, the French arms procurement agency, has awarded the company a EUR 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.