This contract reaffirms the Government's trust in Indra, who previously developed the ground segment of the Helios Earth Observation programme
Indra will develop, integrate and implement the ground segment of the Pleidaes, a French constellation of high-resolution optical satellites for Earth observation, for the Spanish Ministry of Defence. The contract amounts to 13.7 M euros and is to be concluded in three years.
The systems to be implemented by Indra, will allow the Spanish army to make wide use of the information supplied by civil and military satellites involved in this space programme promoted by France, of which Spain owns a 3% stake. The first satellite is expected to enter orbit by the end of 2009 and the next one in 2011.
The company will design, develop and start up the necessary systems for satellite imagery collection, the treatment for final products and the programme to request information from the satellites. The system will be located in the airspace systems centre for observation (CESAEROB) in the Air Force Base in Torrejón.
The satellites will be able to catch images at submetrical level. Once both satellites of the constellation are into operational service, building 3D imagery with a higher performance and enhanced quality will be possible, which means a qualitative leap for The Army.
The Spanish Army observation of the Earth and cartography will be more efficient, using these images as a means for taking measurements for tactics and intelligence affairs.
This contract reaffirms Indra’s know-how and capacities acquired in the ground segment within the Helios programme for Earth Observation and shows The Ministry of Defence’s trust in the company. In the Helios programme, Indra was responsible for the development of the software to manage, prepare and save images as well as for the acquisition modules, product generation and process, among other components.
Indra is Spain’s first IT multinational and one of Europe and Latin America’s most important. It is the second European company in its sector according to stock market capitalisation and it is one of the three Spanish companies with more investment in I+D. In 2007, revenues exceeded € 2.167M; a third part of it came from the international market. The company employs more than 23.500 professionals and has developed projects in more than 93 countries.