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Airbus launches final CSO observation satellite for French Armed Forces
The launch was on an Ariane 6 rocket from French Guyana. (Photo: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE-ArianeGroup)
Airbus was awarded the Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO) contract at the end of 2010. This included an option for a third satellite, which was activated after Germany joined the programme in 2015.
The third and final Airbus CSO observation satellite (CSO-3) was launched from French Guyana on 6 March, completing a constellation designed to provide high resolution geo-information intelligence to the French Armed Forces.
The launch was carried out by Arianespace on Ariane 6’s first commercial flight from the European Spaceport in Kourou in the South American country.
The CSO-3 satellite, identical to CSO-1 and CSO-2, will complement the reconnaissance operations of CSO-1 with amplified coverage and revisit capability over large zones at an altitude of 800km. Flying at a lower altitude, CSO-2’s focus is on identification, delivering much higher resolution image quality and precision analytics.
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Airbus states that the “CSO satellites are equipped with an agile pointing system for effective image acquisition and are controlled via a secure ground control operations centre.
“The fleet offers three-dimensional and high-resolution imaging capability, in visible and infrared bandwidths, enabling acquisition during night and day and maximising operational use.”
As prime contractor, Airbus has provided the platform and avionics, and was also responsible for integration, testing and final delivery of the satellite to the French Space Agency. Thales Alenia Space provided Airbus with the high-resolution optical payload.
It forms part of the MUSIS (Multinational Space-based Imaging System for surveillance, reconnaissance and observation) programme to replace older systems which began in 2010 as a French effort. Since then, Germany and Sweden joined in 2015, followed by Belgium (2017), Italy (2019), Spain (2021), Switzerland (2023), Poland (2024) and Greece (2024).
MUSIS includes the three satellites, mission ground segments and a user ground segment allowing access to the German SARah (Satellite-based Radar Reconnaissance System) constellation. It also provides for a common interoperability layer allowing access to Italian Cosmo Sky-Med Second Generation satellites.
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