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EADS Astrium wins contract for Thai Optical Earth Observation Space System

EADS Astrium has just signed today in Bangkok, a contract for delivery of THEOS, the THai Earth Observation System with the Thai Ministry of Science and Technology’s Space Agency (GISTDA).

Amsterdam, Toulouse, Friedrichshafen, Stevenage, 19 July 2004

THEOS will be fully owned and operated by GISTDA and will provide Thailand with worldwide geo-referenced image products and image processing capabilities for applications in cartography, land use, agricultural monitoring, forestry management, coastal zone monitoring and flood risk management. THEOS will provide access to any part of Thailand in less than 2 days.

The THEOS contract includes the production and launch of one optical satellite, as well as the development of the ground segment necessary to operate and control the satellite directly from Thailand. This is naturally accompanied by state of the art facilities for image archiving and processing. The ThEOS satellite is based on the new generation of EADS Astrium Optical Earth Observation high performance satellites, the AstroSat product line, and benefits from EADS Astrium’s extensive experience in this field which started with the SPOT and METOP satellites.

As part of the THEOS contract, Thai engineers will join the EADS Astrium development team and will attend intensive space programme training. This cooperation contract paves the way for further development of GISTDA and space activities in Thailand.

The THEOS satellite payload features both high resolution in panchromatic mode and wide field of view in multispectral mode and has been tailored to Thailand’s specific needs with a worldwide imaging capability. It will be launched mid 2007 on a sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 820km.

This is a major achievement and the third export cooperation contract in the field of Earth observation signed by EADS Astrium in Asia after the ROCSAT-2 satellite, built for the Republic of China, successfully launched in May 2004 and the KOMPSAT-2 satellite for Korea.

EADS Astrium is Europe’s leading satellite system specialist. Its activities cover complete civil and military telecommunications and Earth observation systems, science and navigation programmes, and all spacecraft avionics and equipment.

EADS Astrium is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS SPACE, which is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems. In 2003 EADS SPACE had a turnover of €2.4 billion and 12,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2003, EADS generated revenues of €30.1 billion and employed a workforce of more than 100,000.

Satellite Main Features

Satellite Bus
Launch Mass:	750 kg
Solar Generator Power:	800 W
3 axis agile, accurate and stable attitude Control
Gyro / stellar attitude determination
Full Silicone Carbide Panchromatic Telescope:
High Resolution:	2 m
Field of view:	22 km
Refractive Optics Multispectral Instrument:
Wide Field of view:	90 km
Resolution:	15 m
4 colours channels:	[0,45 – 0,9] µm

 

Press contact:
Rémi ROLAND
EADS SPACE (FR)
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 34 88 35 78

Alistair SCOTT
EADS SPACE (UK)
Tel.: +44 (0) 1438 77 3698

Mathias PIKELJ
EADS SPACE (GER)
Tel.: +49 (0) 7545 8 91 23