Airbus Defence and Space has completed integration of PerúSAT-1, Peru’s first Earth Observation (EO) satellite, and the satellite was built in less than 24 months.
PerúSAT-1 was ordered by the Peruvian government for the country's national space agency, CONIDA, in 2014. PerúSAT-1, based on the highly flexible and compact AstroBus-S platform, will observe Earth via a revolutionary silicon carbide optical instrument system that offers 70 cm resolution.
PerúSAT-1 proves that a powerful and sophisticated EO satellite can be built in less than two years. AIT (Assembly Integration and Test) of the instrument was completed in about eight months, with the platform construction phase, satellite construction, and technical and operational system validation taking only five months each, respectively.
This success was made possible by the creation of the “Projects Factory©,” a new and more integrated working organization in the company's Space System business unit. This new way of working reduces development and construction lead times for satellites up to 500 kg and optimizes their costs and schedule delivery, without impacting quality in any negative fashion.