ESA Selects Matera Space Centre

e-GEOS, the company created by the Italian Space Agency (20%) and Telespazio (80%), has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide X-band and payload data processing services through its Matera Space Centre in support of the operational activities of the first two satellites of the Sentinel constellation, which will be used for the European Union’s GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme.

The seven-year contract is worth a total of EUR10 million, and includes the provision of X-band acquisition services as well as the installation and operation of the Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS) to enable the data acquired by the Sentinel satellites to be received, processed and stored.

e-GEOS was awarded this contract following a tender process launched by the ESA in 2011, which included submissions from some of the most important European players in the sector.

When the first Sentinel satellite is launched in 2013, the Matera Space Centre will start to acquire images. These will initially consist of radar imagery, but with the launch of the second satellite, also include optical of the entire globe. The acquisitions will be systematic and continuous, with image processing times of less than three hours, to enable them to be used for the purposes of environmental monitoring and security.

The archive of data that will gradually be created will represent a unique and irreplaceable asset to be used in operating services for public administration and emergency management.