Airbus Unveils New Portfolio of Earth Observation Satellites

Airbus has redefined its portfolio of turnkey Earth observation systems, specifically designed for the international market. Responding to current market trends, the company now offers a portfolio of end-to-end systems that complies with the increasing variety of user requirements and business models of its customers.

This new portfolio encompasses off-the-shelf products ranging from the constellation-ready S250 optical and S250 radar all the way to absolute-high-end systems with the S850 radar and the S950 optical. It also includes the S450 optical, formerly known as the AstroBus-S.

“The success of our AstroBus products has confirmed our decision of about five years ago, when we started to propose largely standardized satellite systems for the international market,” said Laurent Jaffart, Head of Strategy, Corporate and New Business Development for Airbus Space Systems, during this week’s Global Space and Technology Conference in Singapore. “Customers appreciate the easy access to flight-proven technology, available quickly and offering excellent value-for-money.”

“Today’s market shows a growing demand for optimized revisit rates as well as an increasing need for highly reliable and detailed information,” added Jaffart. “The fact that we are able to combine our latest technological advancements with the experience collected in decades of technological leadership, enables us to define a portfolio that offers the right solution for every customer.”

The portfolio comprises:

• The constellation-ready S250 optical and S250 radar, two small satellites that benefit from Airbus’ most recent advancements in the New Space sector (as also applied in the production of OneWeb satellites), with the French CO3D four-satellite constellation being the first to build on this product
• The flight-proven S450 optical, recently selected for the PerúSAT-1 (launched in 2016) and THEOS 2 (launch planned in 2021) programmes.
• The S850 radar, a highly sophisticated radar system whose technological capabilities enable advanced applications both in the observation domain and in scientific contexts.
• The S950 optical, a high-end optical satellite that is also the base for Airbus’ own Pléiades Neo four-satellite constellation (starting in 2020).

Airbus continues to be the preferred supplier for complete Earth observation systems. Customers can chose to include elements such as applications and operations training, in-orbit-delivery, a complete ground segment, etc. into their Earth observation programme. On top of that, they can benefit from immediate access to the Airbus Constellation, during satellite construction phase and beyond.

Since the launch of its first Earth observation satellite in 1986, Airbus has successfully built and delivered almost 60 Earth observation satellite systems, accumulating well over 400 years of in-orbit operation time. Not a single one of these satellites has ever failed in orbit and Airbus satellites regularly exceed their originally scheduled lifetime, often by several years. Airbus is also the World’s number 1 supplier of Earth observation satellite systems for international customers.