The Eads Astrium Astrosat Product Line A New Generation of High Resolution Small and Micro Satellites Embarking Innovative Technologies

Homeland security and associated benefits obtained from satellite data are essential for a country. Even more important are the additional benefits gained by a country possessing its own satellite system, such as : i) independence and sovereignty acquired from immediately available and reliable data, ii) creation of dual services benefiting both the military and civilian community, iii) creation of new competencies in the highly educated population in various scientific fields (e.g. satellite design, satellite operation, satellite data processing, and image information extraction), iv) significant improvement of the local manufacturing capability by introducing some space design rules (no right for mistake after launch), v) creation/improvement of scientific cooperation at regional scale. From the late 90s, EADS Astrium has developed and improved several classes of high resolution optical Earth Observation satellites. The resulting product line ranges from micro-satellites (about 130 Kg) type to the large satellites (in the range of 1200 kg). They all make uses of state of the art technologies for optical and SAR payloads, as well as for avionics. 3 classes of platforms have been defined and standardized : AS 100 for satellites up to 130 kg, allowing affordable but fully operational missions, AS500 for satellites up to 800 kg, allowing complex high resolution missions, and AS 1000 for satellites up to 1200 kg, providing very high resolution and outstanding imaging and agility capabilities. 2 Synthetic Radar satellites (TerraSAR-X for global applications and AstroSAR Lite (for regional applications) are also offered, both benefiting from long experience of radar payloads (ERS, SRTM, ENVISAT). The satellites are designed for simple flight operations, large data collection capability, and large versatility of payload and missions. They are adaptable to a large range of performances. Astrium satellites have already been selected by various customers worldwide. It now has a long and recognized experience to complement its system/satellite offer with a long term cooperation to support the Customer in reaching any of the goals identified above.