Andrea Nativi/GENOA
The Italian Ministry of Defence and the local space agency have signed an agreement to develop jointly a new advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor, dubbed SAR 2000, that could be used in a proposed military/civil earth observation satellite.
The contract calls for the MoD to pay around 20 billion lira ($11.64 million) of the 60 billion lira needed to develop the sensor and produce demonstration hardware to flight standard for ground tests. The sensor programme is to be completed within 30 months of contract signature. The remainder will be provided by the space agency and industry, with Alenia Spazio taking the lead role.
The sensor is part of the Skymed/Cosmo project, envisaged to include seven satellites, three with optical sensors and four with SAR sensors, all in low 600km orbits. The Italian aerospace industry is hoping to launch the programme as an international venture, with government to government talks reportedly in progress.
Several partners are said to be interested in an earth observation military/civil system to monitor the politically sensitive Mediterranean area.
The Italian forces are also studying a replacement for the French Helios 1 military reconnaissance satellite , in which Italy has a 14% stake, with an in-service date of 2005. France has offered Italy participation in the next generation Helios 2 satellite, but funding problems have so far inhibited moves in this direction and the programme is one of many European satellite projects that could be merged.
Talks are also under way with the US Department of Defense and National Reconnaissance Office on potential co-operation on small military satellites, with US firms also examining the prospect of co-operation with Italian industry.
The Italian MoD is discussing a possible multinational military communications satellite to replace its SICRAL satellite, due to be launched later this year on an Ariane 4 launcher.
Source: Flight International
