COSMO-SkyMed Italian satellites monitor deforestation in Brazil

(To e-GEOS)
12/04/16

 e-GEOS (80% Finmeccanica-Telespazio, 20% ASI) was awarded - through the Brazilian company Geoambiente - a tender called by CENSIPAM (Centro Gestor and Operacional do Sistema de Proteçao da Amazonia) to monitor the phenomenon of deforestation in the Amazon . In particular, the contract, valid for the 2016 and renewable for a second year, provides for the monthly acquisition of satellite data from the Italian constellation COSMO-SkyMed and related to an area equal to one million square kilometers of the territory of the Amazon.

The radar sensors on board the satellites will allow constant monitoring, day and night and in any weather conditions, thus representing the ideal solution for the Amazon territory, characterized for most of the year by frequent rains and constant cloudiness.

The COSMO-SkyMed data are already successfully used in Brazil - where Telespazio operates from 1997 through its subsidiary Telespazio Brasil - for environmental monitoring and safety (oil spills from offshore platforms, landslide control), for support agriculture and defense applications.

The president of e-GEOS, Roberto Ibba, expressed the satisfaction of the Italian Space Agency for the selection of the COSMO-SkyMed system by CENSIPAM for this important project of satellite radar monitoring of the Amazon. Also satisfied by Finmeccanica, for which the new contract is a further confirmation of the value of its technology in space.

Finmeccanica plays a key role in COSMO-SkyMed: from the company's laboratories, many equipment is available - from photovoltaic panels to star sensors, from regulating and power distribution units to amplification, conversion and radio-frequency modulation units - integrated on board the four satellites, realized by Thales Alenia Space (Finmeccanica 33%, Thales 67%), while Telespazio (Finmeccanica 67%, Thales 33%) has developed the entire land segment and is responsible for the acquisition, processing and distribution of satellite data - marketed worldwide by e-GEOS - for civil applications.

Funded by ASI, the Ministry of Defense and MIUR, COSMO-SkyMed is able to operate in any visibility condition with a high frequency of review. It also makes it possible to meet civil and military needs, with services and applications for environmental monitoring, land and sea control, agriculture, border defense and security.