PARIS – Satlantis, a Spanish Earth-observation technology company, signed a contract Sept. 14 to buy two multispectral satellites from OHB Sweden.
Satlantis will supply the instrument, a sensor to gather optical and infrared imagery with a resolution of 80 centimeters per pixel, for OHB’s InnoSat platform.
The satellites are expected to weigh less than 150 kilograms and launch in 2024. Methane detection will be an important application for the imagery, according to a Sept. 15 news release.
Satlantis, founded in 2013, designs and manufactures Earth-observation payloads for small satellites. The company is based at the University of the Basque Country Science Park. A sister company, Satlantis LLC, is located at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Innovation Hub.
The OHB satellites will fly Satlantis’ seventh flight mission.
“OHB Sweden has provided the right agility and capabilities that complement our camera capabilities,” Satlantis CEO Juan T. Hernani, said in a statement.
OHB Sweden, part of the OHB AG Group, is known for satellites and spacecraft subsystems. The InnoSat bus is designed to accommodate Earth-observation, communications and scientific missions in the 40- to 200-kilogram range.
“This is the fifth application of our InnoSat platform, and the demonstration of the versatility and competitiveness of our product,” Benoit Mathieu, OHB Sweden managing director, said in statement. “Our InnoSat satellite platform combines the reliability and robustness of design, based on our 30 years of heritage. The combination with the Satlantis camera technology is the right sweet spot for the most competitive sub-metric and [shortwave infrared] solution for EO based on microsatellites.”