Article Posted on : - Dec 09, 2011

Sentinel-5 Precursor. Photo: Astrium UK.

PARIS (BNS): ESA has awarded a contract worth $60.7243 million to Astrium UK to act as prime contractor for the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite system.

Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P) will be the first satellite dedicated to monitoring atmospheric chemistry for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme. It will be launched in 2015.

The contract was signed by ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Volker Liebig, and Astrium's UK National Director for Earth Observation, Navigation and Science, Miranda Mills.

Astrium UK is now responsible for the delivery and integration of the satellite platform and system that make up the mission as a whole.

"This contract marks another significant milestone in the development of our series of Sentinel satellites to serve GMES," Prof. Liebig was quoted as saying in an ESA news report.

Sentinel-5P will ensure we have continuous data to monitor the ozone hole and tropospheric pollution, he added.

The satellite will carry the Tropospheric Ozone Monitoring Instrument, or Tropomi. This advanced imaging absorption spectrometer will provide data on atmospheric trace gases and aerosols that affect air quality and climate.

Tropomi is being developed in the Netherlands as a joint venture between ESA, the Netherlands Space Office NSO, the Dutch Royal Meteorological Institute KNMI, the Dutch Institute for Space Research SRON, TNO and Dutch Space.