Earth observation

Thales Alenia Space (the joint venture between Thales, 67% and Leonardo, 33%) and Thales have signed a contract with The French defense procurement agency Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) to carry out a concept study concerning intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications using a StratobusTM type platform to meet French army operational needs.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are embarking on new cooperative projects for exploring unknown or potentially hazardous environments: harnessing drones for the monitoring of disaster-stricken regions or toxic spill sites and making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to navigate across the surface of asteroids or other terra incognita.

Satellogic, the first company to develop a scalable earth observation platform with the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, has announced the impending launch of two new Earth Observation satellites.

European Space Imaging is a leading supplier of high-resolution satellite imagery to customers in Europe, North Africa and CIS. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Munich, Germany. SpaceWatch.Global’s Torsten Kriening had the chance to speak with Managing Director Adrian Zevenbergen at SpaceTechExpo Europe in Bremen about the company's business, the earth observation market and the future of that sector.

Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall presented his New Year wishes to the press at the agency’s Head Office in Paris Les Halles on 7 January 2020.

South Korean environmental monitoring and oceanographic satellite Chollian-2B is expected to be launched on board an Arianespace Ariane-5 satellite launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Centre on 18 February 2020, according to the South Korean Ministry of Science and Information Communication Technology.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is understood to be in separate talks with Kazakhstan regarding space cooperation, and South Korea regarding economic cooperation in satellite manufacturing and applications, according to Saudi and regional press reports.

Kleos Space has announced that its Kleos Scouting Mission will be launched on board an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C49 mission from Chennai, India, in early 2020.

AzerCosmos, the Azerbaijani satellite operator, reported revenues of U.S.$40.6 million for the period of January to November 2019, a 69 percent increase over the same period in 2018, when the company generated revenues of just U.S.$25.6 million.

South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on 31 December 2019 that South Korea's largest aerospace company, the Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI), has announced that it will build three remote sensing satellites with the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) by 2025