ESA orders 6 additional radar-based satellites to Thales Alenia Space for IRIDE Earth observation constellation

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a 107-Million-Euro contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the supply of 6 additional radar-based satellites dedicated to the Italian Earth observation constellation, IRIDE.

This second batch of satellites, as the previous batch of six, will rely on the innovative and scalable NIMBUS (New Italian Micro Bus) platform. Built by Thales Alenia Space, the high-performance NIMBUS will be produced rapidly and is designed for high-revisit and high-capacity constellations in addition to very high throughput.

For the Italian Earth Observation Constellation IRIDE, Thales Alenia Space will build a total of 13 satellites: 12 small-sized satellites based on SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) technology and 1 satellite based on optical technology.