Airbus Partners with Hisdesat on PAZ-2 satellite Imagery Commercialization
Airbus Defence and Space has extended its partnership with Hisdesat, adding commercialization for imagery and applications from future PAZ-2 radar satellites.
The two companies formalized the agreement during the European Space Conference in Brussels, Belgium.
The imagery being commercialized in the agreement comes from the PAZ satellite in constellation with the German TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X satellites.
PAZ-2 is an Earth observation program that’s replacing the current PAZ satellite—operating since 2018—with new twin satellites. The first of these PAZ-2 satellites is expected to enter service by mid-2031.
The program is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism and led by the Spanish Ministry of Defence and Hisdesat. Radar images and services will be provided to the Spanish Ministry of Defence as part of the new agreement.
The PAZ-2 satellites are scheduled to fly in constellation, integrating advanced technologies that enable high-quality imagery with improved resolution of up to 10 centimeters. They will also extend coverage to 6.7 million square kilometers per day per satellite, offering a maximum image swath width of 500 kilometers.
The PAZ-2 mission will offer near-real-time services, with a latency from acquisition to availability of around five minutes.
These upgrades to the program aim to enhance:
- Surveillance and intelligence capabilities
- Infrastructure monitoring
- Disaster assessment
- Risk management
- Border control
Airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor for the space segment of the program, which has 65% national participation in Spain.
“This partnership aims to push the boundaries of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based Earth observation and provide innovative solutions to meet growing global demand for both military and commercial markets,” said Eric Even, Head of Space Digital at Airbus Defence and Space.
Hisdesat CEO Miguel Ángel García Primo stated, “[The extended agreement] will ensure the continuity of the excellent work carried out since 2018 between the Hisdesat and Airbus teams and drive the penetration of SAR imagery—capable of performing in any weather condition—compared to other Earth observation tools."