SSC Space Awarded Ground Station Services Contract for Airbus Pléiades Neo Series

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 21, the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC Space) announced that it has signed a contract with Airbus Defence and Space to provide extended ground station support for two high-resolution Earth observation missions: the operational Pléiades Neo and the next-generation Pléiades Neo Next. Under the agreement, SSC Space will serve as the primary ground segment service provider for both missions, drawing on a global ground station network comprising the Esrange Space Center in Sweden, the Inuvik Satellite Station in Canada, and the Punta Arenas station in Chile.

The contract covers routine telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) as well as data reception services during the satellites' in-orbit operations, and also includes launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) support for Pléiades Neo Next following its launch in 2028. The two parties will also optimize the existing ground segment to reduce the latency between the reception of satellite imaging data and its delivery to Airbus customers.

Pléiades Neo currently provides native 30-centimeter-class optical remote sensing imagery, with its single-satellite architecture supporting high-frequency revisit and large-scale imaging missions. The next-generation Pléiades Neo Next will increase the native spatial resolution to the 20-centimeter class and further enhance revisit frequency. Airbus has confirmed that the first Pléiades Neo Next satellite will launch in early 2028 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard a Vega C rocket.

Pléiades Neo Next is independently funded, manufactured, owned and operated by Airbus Defence and Space, and its imaging capabilities will be made available to commercial and government users in areas including defense intelligence, agriculture, environment, maritime, disaster response, mapping, urban planning and infrastructure. Airbus previously announced that the series will operate in synergy with the existing Pléiades Neo constellation and that it plans to extend the related high-resolution Earth observation service capabilities through at least 2040.

This contract further extends SSC Space's existing Pléiades Neo ground station services to the next-generation Pléiades Neo Next mission. SSC Space's three existing ground stations cover the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere respectively, and can handle satellite telemetry and command, mission data downlink, and early launch operations support, with the LEOP services for Pléiades Neo Next set to begin after the first satellite's launch in 2028.