Alenia Spazio Signs COSMO-Skymed Contract; Galileo Receives Go-ahead

Italy’s COSMO-Skymed (Alenia Spazio photo)

ROME, Dec. 23/Satnews Daily/ ¾ Alenia Spazio, a Finmeccanica company, and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) have signed a contract worth $1.038 billion (775 million euro) to begin the development of the COSMO-Skymed satellite constellation for Earth observation.

Alenia Spazio said the contract covers the construction of the first three satellites, the first of which will be launched in late 2006, followed by the others at 8-month intervals. The system will be fully operational in 2008.

The COSMO-SkyMed is a low-orbit, dual-use (civil and military) Earth observation satellite system operating in the X-band funded by the Italian Ministry of Research (MIUR) and Ministry of Defence and managed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

COSMO stands for COnstellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation, since it will predominantly provide dedicated services to the communities around the Mediterranean Sea, although it will be fully capable of offering innovative services worldwide.

The Italian space industry received a further boost with the signing of the contract between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Galileo Industries to begin the operations for Galileo, the European system of satellite navigation.

Maurizio Tucci, managing director and CEO of Alenia Spazio said the signing of the contract is a great day for Italy's space industry. In Paris the contract was signed between ESA and Galileo Industries, Alenie Spazio’s partner for Europe's Galileo program. He added the new contracts mean that Alenia Spazio has met the three objectives set for 2004: the ATV capsules for the space station, Gaileo and COSMO-Skymed.

Alenia Spazio, a Finmeccanica company, is a major player in the Italian space industry and one of the largest in Europe. It employs 2,400 highly skilled employees and operates a 16,000 square meters of clean rooms and laboratories for advanced technological research that are among the most modern and well-equipped in Europe.