EADS North America has received a five-year contract to provide commercial radar satellite data to the U.S. government’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for use in intelligence, military and homeland security applications.
The data will be provided by the geo-information service provider, Infoterra GmbH, an EADS Astrium subsidiary that holds the commercial exploitation rights for the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X.
This Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract has a value of up to $85 million, and involves the supply of imagery from TerraSAR-X, an EADS Astrium-built synthetic aperture radar satellite, along with related products and direct downlink services. The data will enable the NGA to provide other U.S. government and DoD agencies improved information acquisition capabilities.
During the new five-year contract, TerraSAR-X will be complemented with another EADS Astrium-built SAR satellite, TanDEM-X, which is scheduled to be launched in 2010. Together they will create a unique twin-satellite formation that will collect data for a global digital elevation model.
The SAR instruments on TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X enable large-area coverage as well as extremely high resolution and geo-location accuracy. Data and products supplied under this contract can be used in processing centers of U.S. Department of Defense agencies and the U.S. Intelligence community, as well as down linked directly to ground receiving facilities. Satellite images, fused with other intelligence and geospatial information, deliver actionable information to national decision makers and warfighters.
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www.infoterra.de/image-gallery/images.html