Company

HISDESAT Servicios Estratégicos S.A.

Satellite Operator (data sales)

Provider of secure satellite communications services to governments in the X- and Ka-bands (Xtar-Eur y SpainSat), as well as of Earth Observation (Paz e Ingenio) satellite services and maritime traffic information (AIS) satellite constellations. It has Ground Control Centres operating 24/7. • Earth Observation: Satellite operator for PAZ and Ingenio (PNOT) systems, featuring two space observation techniques: radar and optical. • Secure satellite government communications in the X and Ka bands. This system relies on two satellites already in operation, Xtar-Eur y SpainSat, that offer communications coverage over two-thirds of the Earth. • The satellite-based AIS system: managed through the Canadian company exactEarth. This new constellation of satellites will provide an accurate picture of the world’s maritime traffic in real time. • Aerospace • Telecommunications • Earth Observation • Defence & Security • AIS satellite services • Ground Control *** Earth observation The PNOTS (National Satellite Ground Observation Program) was launched in July of 2007, a collaborative effort among several stakeholders in Spain. PNOTS employs two satellites, PAZ and INGENIO, currently in development and featuring two space observation techniques: radar (SAR) and optical. They will be use for many kind of application and users and will offer nighttime and daytime images in any weather conditions. With this program, Spain becomes the first European country to have a dual-observation, dual-use system. Hisdesat is responsible for developing PAZ satellite, placing both satellites into orbit and for the operations and commercial explotation of both satellite observation systems, in cooperation with INTA, which in addition will own and provide the ground control management services. Both satellites allow for Earth Observation for multiple purposes: border control, intelligence, environmental monitoring, protection of natural resources, enforcement of international treaties, surface monitoring, city and infrastructure planning, monitoring of natural catastrophes and high-resolution mapping, among many others. HISDESAT is the owner and operator of the PAZ satellite, which will offer precise information for multiple applications from its polar orbit around the Earth. The launch of the satellite has been entrusted to the American launcher Falcon 9, following the signing of the contract with the company SpaceX. PAZ is intended to address the needs of the several users in Spain and worldwide. It will be able to take over one hundred 1-meter resolution daytime and nighttime images a day in any weather conditions. From the start, the manufacture of the Paz satellite has given Spain’s aerospace industry a significant return on the investments made by the companies involved, allowing them to develop new capabilities that will improve their competitiveness in the global aerospace marketplace. This new satellite will also significantly improve Spain’s standing within Europe’s Copernicus Program, a key initiative in ground monitoring led by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA). Designed for a five-and-half year mission, it will cover an area of over 300,000 square kilometers a day. It will orbit the Earth fifteen times a day at an altitude of 514 kilometers and a speed of seven kilometers per second. Thanks to its slightly inclined quasi-polar orbit, PAZ will cover the entire Earth with an average revisit time of 24 hours. Its total estimated weight is 1400 kg. It is 5-m high and its diameter is 2.4 m. The radar is designed to be very flexible and will be able to operate in a wide array of configurations depending on the desired image performance. It has a 256-GB image storage capacity and an X-band transmission speed of 300 Mbits/sec for relaying its images to the ground. The INGENIO (Spanish for “ingenuity”) optical-technology satellite is also intended to address the needs of many users in Spain and worldwide. The project is led by the Ministry of Industry and by the CDTI. The European Space Agency (ESA) is handling the construction contract. Ingenio will be in a synchronous solar orbit 670 km above the ground and will orbit the Earth 14 times a day. It will be able to take up to six hundred 2.5-m panchromatic or 10-m multispectral images a day. It will also be able to complete eight full sweeps of Spain in a year. Radar Satellite Constellation TerraSAR-X/PAZ In 2012, Hisdesat signed an agreement with Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Astrium GEO Services) for the creation of a constellation of satellites using radar coordinated resources of PAZ, TerraSAR -X and TanDEM –X, available to customers. Among the advantages the constellation provides are • Significant reduction of the revisit time (will be between 4 and 7 days), important for interferometric processes and applications with strict timing requirements. • Improving procurement capacity for surveillance applications and map generation. • Ease of making requests through a single portal requests and a single catalog. The creation of the constellation responds to the growing demand of the industry’s Earth Observation based on radar technology for coordinating private missions to market products that comply fully with the expectations of existing applications and provide benefits for new ones. Satellites use the same orbit and have identical scan width and imaging modes. The use of a satellite or other will be transparent to the end user. Coordination of land segments and their interconnection with direct access stations (DAS) allow users to receive and process data from three satellites getting equivalent final products. Benefit from this new constellation numerous activities associated with the need for data in time and intensity of crisis management in monitoring surface movements. The development of this concept allows Hisdesat constellation providing customers best facilities and places the company at the forefront of satellite operators of Earth Observation. Currently, Hisdesat and Airbus Defence and Space have defined operational requirements and benefits that the constellation must provide customers and are being adapted to operate both missions coordinated when PAZ in service. Hisdesat also works in coordination with INTA, in the definition and development of interfaces for the PAZ Earth Station with direct access stations (DAS) defined by the constellation. Such stations, located at the customer installations, allow us to offer a very flexible service features Almost Real Time (Near Real Time).

Head Office Location
Spain
Address
Paseo de la Castellana 149. 28046 Madrid
Telephone
+34 91 449 01 49
Contact Name
Serrano Araceli
Contact Position
PR Communications Director
Contact Telephone
+34 91 4490149
Contact Email
Contact LinkedIn