OHB Italia signs Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer contract

Milan, 11 January 2021. OHB Italia has signed an important contract with Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33 %), for CIMR - Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer - an Earth Observation programme co-funded by ESA and EU member states in the frame of the ‘High Priority Copernicus Missions’. The aim of the CIMR mission is to analyse ocean parameters in the polar regions. From these, important data for climate research can be derived. 

ASI – Italian Space Agency – played a key role in financing the CIMR mission during the last ministerial Conference held in Seville last November 2019.

OHB Italia will be responsible, as subcontractor of Thales Alenia Space Italy, for the development and production of the CIMR instrument in relation to the two satellites. Thales Alenia Space Italy will contribute to the radiometric aspects of the instrument.

The CIMR instrument is a conical scan multi-frequency microwave radiometer featuring multi-beam architecture, the largest antenna of its kind, state-of-the-art advanced radio-frequency interference detection and blanking techniques. It will ensure global daily coverage with 6 hourly-revisit in Arctic areas, for high-spatial resolution observations of sea-surface temperature, sea-ice concentration, sea-surface salinity and a wide range of other sea-ice parameters, providing a fundamental contribution to climatology and environmental sustainability.

The overall value of the contract is 177,5 Million Euro. Roberto Aceti, CEO of OHB Italia, declared: “The signing of the CIMR contract confirms the leadership of OHB Italia in the area of microwave radiometer imagers, which are a strategic European asset for sea-ice monitoring”.

For more information, please contact:

Camilla Menescardi
Email: camilla.menescardi@ohb-italia.it
Telephone: +39 340 7343679