Two new contracts for Finmeccanica space activities for a total value of 138 million in the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission, the program coordinated by the European Commission in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and with the contribution of Italian Space Agency (ASI), aimed at monitoring the environment and mitigating the effects of climate change, contributing to the management of humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and population security.
The first contract, signed by Finmeccanica's Avionics and Space Systems Division with Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67% Finmeccanica 33%), amounts to 97 million. The agreement covers the supply of infrared radiometers for the Sentinel-3C and 3D satellites and has a duration of six years. In particular, Finmeccanica will lead an international consortium that will realize the SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometers), radiometers able to measure from 800 km height the temperature of the oceans and of the earth with a precision of the tenth of a degree, thus providing fundamental information for meteorology, climatology and global warming control.
The second contract, worth 41 million, was signed between Telespazio (Finmeccanica 67% Thales 33%) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Under the agreement, Telespazio, head of a group of European industries, will manage the operations of the land segment of the Sentinel-2021 mission, including maintenance and development activities, up to the 3. Thanks to these services, users, from land management organizations to civil protection agencies, will be able to access important environmental data as early as three hours after their acquisition by satellites.
