THEOS Ready for Launch

(Yasny, August 4, 2008) -- THEOS, the THailand Earth Observation Satellite developed by Astrium for the Thai Space Agency GISTDA (Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency) is expected to be launched on 6 August 2008 on board a Dnepr rocket from the Yasny launch site in Russia.

THEOS will observe the Earth from the same orbit as the French Spot-5 satellite at 820km altitude.

THEOS will be fully owned and operated by GISTDA and will provide Thailand with world-wide geo-referenced imagery. THEOS will also offer image processing capabilities for applications in cartography, land use, agricultural monitoring, forestry management, coastal zone monitoring and flood risk management. THEOS will provide access to any part of Thailand in less than 2 days.

The THEOS contract includes the production and launch of one optical satellite, the development of the ground segment necessary to operate and control the satellite directly from Thailand, and facilities for image archiving and processing. The THEOS satellite is based on the new generation of the Astrium Optical Earth Observation high performance satellites, the AstroSat product line, and benefits from Astrium's extensive experience in this field which started with the first SPOT satellite 25 years ago. As part of the THEOS contract, Astrium and GISTDA have been working in close cooperation. Indeed, 20 Thai engineers joined the Astrium development team in Toulouse and attended intensive space programme training.

"This cooperation paves the way for further development of space activities in Thailand. After the Formosat-2 satellite, built for Taiwan, launched in May 2004 and the first Korean multi-function geostationary satellite "COMS", THEOS is the third Earth observation spacecraft designed and manufactured for the Asia-Pacific region by Astrium, confirming our company's leading position on the market", explained Francois Auque, CEO of Astrium.

Source : EADS

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