OCCAR-EA awards the MUSIS Federating Activities Phase B-1 Contract

credit Astrium

July 5, 2011 defpro.com

Bonn | In the frame of the space programme MUSIS, OCCAR-EA awarded a 9-month contract to the three co-contractors Thales Alenia Space Italia, EADS Astrium France, and Thales Alenia Space France.

MUSIS (MUltinational Space-based Imaging System) is a collaborative programme for surveillance, reconnaissance and observation comprising several European military or dual-use satellite constellations of the next generation and complementing one another. Among these constellations, the space system CSG (Cosmo SkyMed Seconda Generazione) is under development in Italy and will generate radar images; CSO (Composante Spatiale Optique), the MUSIS space component realised under the leadership of France, will acquire optical pictures.

Sponsored by France and Italy, the MUSIS Federating Activities (FA) aim to interconnect the space systems mentioned above and guarantee mutual access by national users. The MUSIS FA Phase B–1 study is concerned with the preliminary definition of a “Common Interoperability Layer” bridging the gap between the national ground segments.

The possible participation of other MUSIS Nations in subsequent phases of these federating activities may be coordinated through the European Defence Agency, in the frame of the “EDA MUSIS Cat B Programme.”