Astrium and Canadian Department of Defense

Astrium Services’ GEO-Information division, a provider of geo-information products and services, has been awarded a contract in North America by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to deliver Pléiades 1 & 2 and SPOT 5, 6 & 7 Direct Access capabilities to the Canadian Department of Defense (DND) as part of the Joint Space Support Project (JSSP). The corresponding Terminals will be integrated by MDA as part of two deployable satellite surveillance systems, providing DND access to Astrium’s full range of optical imaging satellite capabilities.

This agreement marks the third major pre-launch contract signed by Astrium Services for the Pléiades program, and the first integration of Pléiades and SPOT, capabilities into transportable and deployable ground receiving stations.

Astrium’s upcoming optical imaging satellite constellation is based on four satellites: Pléiades 1 & Pléiades 2, two very high-resolution satellites delivering 50-cm ortho color products as standard, and SPOT 6 & 7, designed to extend SPOT 5’s success to the 1.5-m product family. Phased on the same orbit, the constellation will enjoy unprecedented reactivity, with intra-day revisit capacity anywhere on the Earth. Multiple tasking plans per day will result in an unrivalled optimization of data collection: unforeseen weather changes, as well as last-minute requests, can be taken into account for a first-class level of service.

Internet: www.astrium-geo.com