[SatNews] It is the highest-resolution fully private satellite in Europe, and one of the few commercial submetric satellites in the world.

The Swedish Space Corporation, SSC, announces its successful ground station support to the Spanish satellite DEIMOS-2, which started providing commercial services to users around the world on November 3.

Illustration of the Deimos-2 spacecraft (image credit: SI, Deimos Imaging)

DEIMOS-2, owned and operated by Elecnor Deimos, is the first Spanish very-high resolution optical Earth Observation satellite. It is the highest-resolution fully private satellite in Europe, and one of the few commercial submetric satellites in the world. DEIMOS-2 provides a significant asset for users that require reliable global, flexible and rapid tasking and near real-time acquisition of very high resolution images.

SSC is pleased to have partnered with Elecnor Deimos to provide full support to DEIMOS-2 from its polar ground stations in Kiruna, Sweden, and Inuvik, Canada. SSC’s dual Arctic station solution enables satellite commanding, payload tasking and significant data download opportunity on every orbit for polar satellites, regardless of orbit altitude. SSC has supported DEIMOS-2 from the launch in June, through in-orbit commissioning and now continuing with the commercial operation phase.

“SSC and Elecnor Deimos have worked together very successfully on DEIMOS-2. The project has been run like we are one team from the beginning, from the preliminary interfaces definition and implementation to pre-launch testing and final in-orbit operations. Thanks to that, we were able to afford a tight set of initial orbit validation and hard maneuvering activities, unaffordable without the support of polar SSC ground stations. And the results speak for themselves, as we have fully reached our objectives for the launch, commissioning and start of commercial operations, all in record time”, says Álvaro Ortiz Serrano, Head of Ground Segment and Operations Division at Elecnor Deimos Satellite Systems.

Leif Österbo, President of the Satellite Management Services Division at SSC, concurs:  “SSC appreciates the strong working relationship we have with Elecnor Deimos, as evidenced by the success with DEIMOS-2. We regard Elecnor Deimos as a truly innovative and dynamic actor in the satellite sector, and we look forward to a growing long-term cooperation.”