It will primarily be used for environmental monitoring in the Korean peninsula. After delivering the payload to Korea, Thales Alenia Space was involved in all satellite assembly, integration and testing (AIT) operations prior to launch, first at the satellite integration facility in Daejeon, Korea, and then at the launch site in Russia.
Thales Alenia Space was responsible for the design and development of the X-band payload, based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, which will take high-resolution images of the Earth. The payload contract also included the data link subsystem (DLS), used to store and transmit the images acquired by the radar instrument. Thales Alenia Space supplied other major equipment items on this satellite, including ground support equipment (GSE), image processing and calibration software, ground calibration passive antennas, demonstration models and simulators.
“Kompsat-5 clearly shows that the expertise we have built up over the years in advanced observation system, from ERS to COSMO-SkyMed, has made Thales Alenia Space a world leader in space technology and systems engineering”, said Massimo Di Lazzaro, Executive Vice President Observation, Exploration and Navigation at Thales Alenia Space.
Thales Alenia Space also provided engineering support services to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute during the design of the payload, and teamed up with KARI for joint satellite/mission engineering services. Thales Alenia Space developed and built the payload at its plants in Rome, L’Aquila, Milan and Turin, as well as through collaboration with major subcontractors such as Selex Galileo (Finmeccanica Group).
About Thales Alenia Space
The European leader in satellite systems and a major player in orbital infrastructures, Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%). Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio embody the two groups’ “Space Alliance”. Thales Alenia Space sets the global standard in solutions for space telecommunications, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. Thales Alenia Space had consolidated revenues of 2.1 billion euros in 2012, with 7,500 employees in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium and the United States. www.thalesaleniaspace.com
