Thales Alenia Space and space segment prime contractor OHB System have agreed to develop the payload for the third Copernicus CO2 Monitoring mission satellite, building on their 2020 contract for the first two.
The two parties signed an amendment to their $91.7 million CO2M contract in Brussels. The CO2M mission, co-funded by the European Space Agency and the European Union, is part of the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation program, which aims to improve environmental management and address climate change.
Specifically, the mission will measure human-caused carbon dioxide and methane emissions, providing crucial data for understanding fossil fuel emissions at subcontinental scales and evaluating the effectiveness of public policies aimed at reducing emissions. According to Thales Alenia Space, the addition of a third satellite will enhance measurement accuracy through more frequent data collection.
Each CO2M satellite carries three instruments: a combined CO2/NO2 device and a multi-angle polarimeter, both provided by Thales Alenia Space, and a cloud imager from OIP Sensor Systems.
Thales Alenia Space CEO Hervé Derrey expressed pride in the company’s continued participation in the vital mission. “Thales Alenia Space will continue to bring its flight-proven Earth Observation expertise to this mission, which is essential to meeting the ambitious goal of measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activities,” he said in a statement.
Previously, the Thales-Leonardo joint venture was selected by the Italian Space Agency to lead its Surface Biology and Geology–Thermal Infrared Earth observation mission in partnership with NASA. The mission will employ advanced technologies to capture radiometric and multispectral measurements of emissions from land and water, providing valuable insights into the planet’s health.