Astrium UK To Build Sentinel 5 Precursor

摘要

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Dec. 7 selected Astrium UK to build the Sentinel 5 Precursor Earth observation satellite in a contract valued at 45.5 million euros ($61 million), Astrium announced Dec. 8. Astrium UK will provide Astrium's Astrosat 250 satellite platform for Sentinel 5 Precursor, which is scheduled for launch in 2015 into an 800-kilometer polar low Earth orbit to study atmospheric chemistry. This is the same satellite design used by Astrium for its Spot 6 and Spot 7 optical Earth observation satellites, and for Spain's Ingenio optical reconnaissance satellite, all now in development. Expected to weigh about 500 kilograms at launch, Sentinel 5 Precursor will carry the Tropomi tropospheric monitoring instrument under development for ESA by Dutch Space of the Netherlands, an Astrium subsidiary. The Dutch government has allocated 78 mil- lion euros for Tropomi development and data collection.