PARIS — Spanish information technology company Indra will provide the ground control segment for Spain’s Paz radar Earth observation satellite under a contract with the Spanish Defense Ministry valued at 9 million euros ($12.1 million), Indra announced Nov. 28.
Under the contract with the National Aerospace Technologies Institute (INTA), which is affiliated with the Defense Ministry, Indra will provide several components of the Paz ground network including a data processing center.
The 1,400-kilogram Paz satellite will be equipped with an X-band radar capable of delivering images with a ground resolution as sharp as 1 meter in diameter. The satellite features various operating modes offering different image sharpness and swath widths.
Paz will be operated by Spain’s Hisdesat organization following its launch, aboard a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket, in late 2012 into a 514-kilometer orbit. Paz is under construction by Astrium Satellites and is using a platform based on the one used by Astrium for Germany’s TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar satellites, which are in orbit.
Paz and the Ingenio optical Earth observation satellite, also being built by Astrium and scheduled for launch in 2013, together form Spain’s national Earth observation program.
