The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract worth more than €280 million to OHB System AG, a subsidiary of the space and technology group OHB SE in Germany, to create two satellites for the “Earth Explorer 10” Harmony mission.
OHB announced that Simonetta Cheli, ESA Director of Earth Observations Programs, and Rüdiger Schönfeld, Board Member at OHB System AG, signed the contract during the 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Milan on October 15, 2024.
The agreement includes the management of the industrial consortium as well as the development and construction of two new Earth observation satellites for ESA’s FutureEO program. These satellites will work alongside the Copernicus satellite, Sentinel-1, and use its radar signals.
“This is the first mission for which OHB will combine a radar instrument and an optical payload on one satellite,” said Agustina Alvarez Toledo, Harmony Project Manager. “Technically, this is a major challenge. At the same time, to fly the first multistatic radar mission is exciting.”
The two Harmony satellites will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 693 kilometers in a sun-synchronous path. Their goal is to monitor small movements and changes in the ocean surface, glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice and the solid Earth.
“Earth Explorer missions have made significant contributions to gaps in our knowledge of how Earth works,” Cheli said. “And now, Harmony is poised to further enhance our understanding by delivering valuable data that will benefit Earth system science and climate research.”
This research mission will provide valuable new data on various Earth processes, from shifts in the shape of the land surface resulting from earthquakes and volcanic activity to insights into glacier movement. According to OHB, the mission is set to launch in 2029.