Article Posted on : - Dec 18, 2011

ELISA satellites. A French MoD photo.

PARIS (BNS): The Soyuz rocket has successfully launched Elisa satellites from Kourou in French Guiana.

Arianespace Thursday launched the Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana, orbiting ELISA, Pleiades 1A and SSOT satellites.

Elisa (ELectronic Intelligence by SAtellite) is a technology demonstrator which consists of four satellites flying in formation at 700 km altitude.

Elisa will enable French defence procurement agency DGA (Direction Générale de l'Armement) to test the space-based mapping of radar transmitters across the planet, while also determining the characteristics of these transmitters.

The DGA and French space agency (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) are co-project authorities, and chose Astrium, with Thales Airborne Systems, to build the four satellites, each weighing about 120 kg, along with the user ground segment.

The satellites will use radar transmitters to map the entire globe, with precise feature definition. They are a first step towards the future ROEM (Renseignement d'Origine ElectroMagnetique) electromagnetic reconnaissance programme.