Italy's Cosmo-SkyMed Scientific Satellites to Launch June 7 on Delta II
Cosmo SkyMed satellite.
ST. LOUIS, June 4, 2007 - Satnews Daily - Italy’s Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation (Cosmo) SkyMed, which consists of four SAR (synthetic aperture radar) dual use satellites, will launch June 7 on board a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The Cosmo-SkyMed program was developed by Thales Alenia Space for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Italian Ministry of Defense. It is an end-to-end Earth observation dual-use (civil and military) system composed of four medium-sized satellites and supporting ground stations for orbit control systems and data reception and processing. The system will take imagery of the Earth using an X-Band SAR instrument at the request of institutional and commercial users, including members of the defense, civil and scientific communities.
Boeing Launch Services procured the launch vehicle and associated support services from the United Launch Alliance. A Delta II 7420-10 configuration launch vehicle will be used to deploy the Cosmo-SkyMed spacecraft to low earth orbit approximately 58 minutes after liftoff.
Cosmo-SkyMed is funded by ASI and the Italian Ministry of Defense. The overall objective of this program is global Earth observation and the exploitation of data for military and civilian purposes. Sample applications of Cosmo-SkyMed data include defense and security; risk management (floods, droughts, landslides, industrial hazards, water pollution) and other applications (marine and coastal environments, agriculture, forestry, cartography, environment, geology and exploration, telecommunication).
In 1996 the Italian Government provided initial funding for a national Earth observation program. In 1997 the general guidelines for the 1998-2002 Italian National Space Plan (PSN) were approved including the activities on Earth observation. The strategic element in this plan is the Cosmo-SkyMed dual-use program.
The overall system architecture is composed of a space segment (a constellation of SAR satellites) and a ground segment including full featured user services.
The Cosmo-SkyMed space segment uses the PRIMA (Piattaforma Riconfigurabile Italiana Multi-Applicativa (Reconfigurable Italian Platform for Multiple Applications)) bus of Thales Alenia Space. Thales Alenia Space is also the prime contractor of the space segment.
The Cosmo-SkyMed program is part of ORFEO, a dual-use (civilian and military) earth observation satellite network, developed jointly between France and Italy. The system consists of two satellites equipped with advanced electro-optical payloads, known as Pleiades, and four SAR satellites known as Cosmo-SkyMed.
