This part of the ground segment, covering data acquisition, processing and product generation, is designated PDAP (Payload Data Acquisition and Processing). The development contract was approved during the latest EUMETSAT council meeting on December 6 and 7.
The PDAP mainly comprises a new-generation data processing center, and will be capable of extracting both geophysical and environmental products in virtually real time. It will be mainly deployed in Darmstadt, Germany, and will include about 20 production lines. It will also include two ground acquisition stations, for Ka-band in Svalbard (Norway), and for X-band in the Azores, along with ground transponders in Turkey, used to calibrate the scatterometer instrument SCA.
The proposal for this contract was led by Thales Alenia Space at the head of an European consortium and in partnership with the critical information systems and cybersecurity teams from Thales, who will supply the data processing infrastructure and contribute to the development of part of the production lines. Thales Alenia Space Germany will participate in on-site validation operations.
“This contract, along with the contract already won by Thales Alenia Space for the data processing center in the Meteosat Third Generation program, reflects EUMETSAT’s renewed confidence in our ground segments for meteorological systems” said Hervé Hamy, head of Observation and Science at Thales Alenia Space France. “Our comprehensive expertise in image processing, amply demonstrated in the first-generation Metop, Envisat, MSG and Puma programs, as well as through optical recognition systems, will now be applied to the ambitious Metop-SG program, for the greater benefit of meteorology in Europe.”
Photo:
From left to right: Alain Ratier, Director General EUMETSAT and Hervé Hamy, , head of Observation and Science at Thales Alenia Space France
© EUMETSAT
About Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space brings over 40 years of experience to the design, integration, testing and operation of innovative space systems for telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation, environmental management, exploration, science and orbital infrastructures. A joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo-Finmeccanica (33%), Thales Alenia Space also teams up with Telespazio to form the parent companies’ “Space Alliance”, which offers a complete range of services and solutions. Thales Alenia Space has built up unrivaled expertise in dual (civil-military) missions, constellations, flexible high-throughput payloads, altimetry, meteorology, and high-resolution radar and optical observation, as well as space exploration. The company capitalizes on its strong legacy, while also making innovation a key to its strategy. By offering a continuous stream of new products and expanding its global footprint, Thales Alenia Space has established its leadership in today’s fast-evolving space sector. Thales Alenia Space posted consolidated revenues exceeding 2.1 billion euros in 2015 and has 7,500 employees in nine countries. www.thalesaleniaspace.com
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