Portugal launches six more satellites into space
The satellites will bolster the Atlântico and Lusíadas constellations, projects under the New Space Agenda funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
This Monday, Portugal is launching six satellites from the New Space Portugal Agenda into space aboard a SpaceX rocket. Two of the satellites will bolster the Atlântico Constellation and the remaining four the Lusíadas Constellation, which aims to enhance maritime navigation communications.
The Portuguese Air Force and CEiiA are bolstering the Atlântico Constellation with, respectively, a SAR satellite and a VHRLight NexGen optical satellite. “The Portuguese Air Force’s satellite will provide the Atlantic Constellation, which currently has three satellites already in orbit, with the capability to observe the Earth in all weather conditions, day and night, ensuring continuous and reliable monitoring. This capability significantly enhances persistent surveillance, situational awareness and national security, enabling a faster response to military missions, maritime security challenges and the protection of the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)”, reads the statement.
The VHRLight NexGen satellite – the result of work led by CEiiA and N3O, in collaboration with international partners – is, according to the same press release, the second of two VHRLight NexGen optical satellites, “designed to capture images of the Earth’s surface with a resolution of 70 cm per pixel, using state-of-the-art multispectral technology”.
This Monday will also see the launch of four other LusoSpace satellites — Camões, Agustina, Pessoa and Saramago — which will form part of the Lusíada Constellation, a project also falling under the New Space Agenda. This represents an investment of €15 million, of which €10 million is funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). LusoSpace is providing around €2.5 million in funding, with the remaining amount to be raised from private investors.
Cooperation agreement with Satellogic
Also this Monday, an agreement will be formalised between the satellite company Satellogic — from whom CEiiA has already purchased two satellites that will bolster the Atlantic Constellation —, N3O and Geosat, establishing “a framework for cooperation in the field of new technologies for satellites and subsystems and downstream services, particularly within the scope of the Atlantic Data Hub”.
“Two further Very High Resolution (VHR) optical satellites are currently under development through a partnership between CEiiA and N3O with the German company OHB, further strengthening the consolidation and integration of national technological and industrial expertise and capacity in the field of Earth observation”, the statement added.
In addition to strengthening national capabilities in the field of satellites, the New Space Agenda also includes the strategic component of Access to Space, coordinated by the Portuguese Air Force, which provides for the development of a Space Base in the Azores, “contributing to European autonomy and to positioning Portugal as an Atlantic hub for the launch and recovery of space assets within the European space ecosystem”.
