Elecnor Deimos inaugurates its Puertollano Integration and Satellite Operation Centre, and presents its DEIMOS-2 Satellite

Madrid, 8 October 2013.- Elecnor Deimos,  the technological arm of Elecnor, today launched its Puertollano Satellite Integration and Operations Centre, an advanced complex dedicated to the control and integration of satellites, one of the European aerospace sector’s  most ambitious projects.  Elecnor Deimos also presented their new satellite, DEIMOS-2, which was developed in parallel with the Satellite Integration and Operations Centre, and constitutes Elecnor Deimos' second private mission.  The main aim of this extremely high-resolution satellite, whose launch is planned for the early months of 2014, is to expand our knowledge of natural phenomena, and to help prevent and manage potential natural or humanitarian disasters.

The project will create almost 100 jobs for highly-qualified workers and will involve an investment of €60 million before the satellite is launched. This figure is expected to rise to about €100 million during the satellite’s life span, which should last about 7 years.

“Our extensive experience in the aerospace industry has made it possible for Elecnor Deimos to take this important step today. The development of our new Satellite Integration and Operations Centre in Puertollano and the DEIMOS-2 satellite will allow us to keep adding value to our society and will reinforce our position as one of the leading actors in the European aerospace sector”, announced Miguel Belló, General Manager of Elecnor Deimos.

Amongst its extensive activity in the aerospace sector, it is worth highlighting Elecnor Deimos’ participation in most of the European Space Agency’s special programmes in various areas of operation (including launchers, planetary exploration, manned flights, earth observation),  as well as the company’s experience in complete space missions  

Its experience in this area motivated Elecnor Deimos to undertake its own Earth Observation programme, which it began four years ago with the launch of DEIMOS-1, the first Spanish and European satellite funded entirely by private capital.  

This has helped Elecnor Deimos become benchmark in the global aerospace industry, recently named the “Best New Satellite Operator 2013” at the 5th Summit on Earth Observation Business, held in Paris.

Integration and Operations Centre: at the forefront of the aerospace industry

The newly opened Satellite Integration and Operations Centre in Puertollano is an innovative complex which completes Elecnor Deimos’s presence in every part of the value chain of space missions.  The installations, which have been in development for two years, requiring almost €8 million in total investment, have been designed to cover three key areas: The Flight Area, the Ground Area, and the User Area.

The Flight Area focuses on satellite integration and contains a 400 m2 clean room, designed to maintain the most rigorous environmental restrictions. The DEIMOS-2 Satellite was integrated in this very clean room. A specialised, multidisciplinary team of engineers spent more than a year working on the various elements that make up the satellite system.  Currently, the clean room is being used to test the compatibility of the different parts, to prepare instruments for environmental testing, to verify the processes of the operations, and for the final stages of the satellite’s acceptance testing.

The Ground Area is considered the brain centre of the mission.  It contains the Control Centre, where the satellite is monitored, followed, calibrated, and corrected when in orbit.  This centre also receives and processes all the images captured by the satellite using sophisticated software (gs4E0), developed by Elecnor Deimos.  The Ground Area also includes a terrestrial station with a 50-tonne antenna, 10.2 meters in diameter, which is situated next to the building. This antenna will be used to facilitate communication between DEIMOS-2 and the Control Centre and can receive information from other satellites as well as DEIMOS-2

Finally, the User Area provides earth observation products and services. Elecnor Deimos responds to requests from clients who require high-precision images captured by DEIMOS-2, for intelligence or detailed analysis purposes.

Elecnor Deimos’ Satellite Integration and Operations Centre is equipped with the most advanced technology, including image processing software developed by the company itself. Using this software Elecnor Deimos can process and deliver and image to the client in less than two hours after it is downloaded, thanks to a Payload Processing Centre that contains 96 central processing units, and 80 TB of initial data storage space, with a virtually unlimited scope for amplification.

DEIMOS-2: high technology at society’s service.

Elecnor Deimos also introduced DEIMOS-2, their second earth observation satellite, which will complete the service currently provided by DEIMOS-1.

The new satellite, which incorporates a number of significant advances, will be able to capture images of the Earth at a resolution up to 400 times higher than its predecessor.

DEIMOS-2 will mainly be used in the areas of agriculture, urban development, cartography, security and intelligence, civil and environmental protection, amongst others.

DEIMOS-2 was in development for approximately three and a half years, weighs 300 kg, measures 2 x 1.5 metres (without the panels extended) and will orbit at a height of over 600 km allowing it to cover a surface area of over 150,000 km2 per day.  Its main instrument is a panchromatic, multispectral camera, which can provide images with a resolution of up to 75 cm. The camera is extremely agile and can be pointed in all directions, providing highly precise and detailed images.