Franco-Belgian satellite programme makes progress
Two out of three CSO satellites are now in orbit.
A second Franco-Belgian Optical Space Component (CSO) military observation satellite was launched on 29 December 2019 from the Guyanese Space Centre, just before Belgian involvement in the predecessor Helios II programme expired on 31 December.
CSO-2 (pictured) features a very high-resolution optical instrument built by Thales Alenia Space.
Belgium has invested about €100 million ($123 million) in the CSO programme to launch three satellites, under a cooperation agreement with France in 2017. CSO-1 was launched in December 2018.
The programme is part of a strategy to pool resources for European space defence. The eventual three-satellite constellation is designed to provide better support for military operations with higher image resolution by day and at night.
‘CSO thus ensures more images with better quality that are available more quickly,’ the Belgian MoD noted in a statement. ‘The second CSO-2 observation satellite will give an operational rendering faster than CSO-1 with an even better spatial resolution given its lower height.’
For its part the French MoD announced that the CSO-2 launch reflects a strategy, launched in 2019, to invest €700 million in space defence systems by 2025.
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