Deimos Space SLU, the technology branch of the Spanish industrial corporation Elecnor, has finalised an agreement with Spetstechnoexport from Ukraine to upgrade a Direct Receiving System belonging to the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) and implement dedicated processing systems of Deimos-2 high resolution images. As a consequence of the said agreement, Deimos Space will now award a contract to Deimos Imaging, the UrtheCast Company that owns and operates the Deimos-1 and Deimos-2 satellites, to supply Deimos-2 very high resolution images.
This agreement is the result of the industrial contacts initiated in the context of the EU Space Twinning Programme established between Ukrainian and Spanish institutions and managed, respectively, by SSAU and Spanish Institute for Aerospace Technique (INTA). In this connection, the agreement for Deimos-2 data processing systems and imagery was one of the action lines identified in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2016 between SSAU and Elecnor Deimos intended to promote cooperation in space projects, focusing on Earth Observation space and ground systems, as well as the exploitation of remote sensing data and the development of space-based applications and other fields of cooperation such as launch systems, space situational awareness, satellite navigation and communications and applied research, in cooperation with other Ukrainian industrial actors.
The proposed system will be based on gs4EO ground segment, the product suite fully developed by Elecnor Deimos for the operations and exploitation of Deimos-2 satellite. gs4EO building blocks will manage the image requests to the mission control centre, the control of the receiving antenna for the image download, as well as the processing and archive of the generated imagery products.