ESA Orders Jason Follow-on Satellite from Airbus

摘要

The European Space Agency on May 11 contracted with Airbus Defence and Space to build an ocean topography satellite to follow on from today's U.S.European Jason spacecraft as part of a mission that presumes future financing from Europe's Eumetsat meteorological satellite agency. Under the contract, valued at 177 million euros ($192 million), Airbus will build the 1,400-kilogram Jason-CS/Sentinel-6A satellite in time for a launch in 2020, if needed. The contract includes a fixed-price option for an identical second satellite that would be launched around 2025 - again, as needed depending on the health of the preceding mission. As a recurrent-model satellite, it is budgeted at between 40 percent and 60 percent of the cost of the first model.