Airbus and the European Incumbents
What role do Airbus and other established European companies play in Earth observation?
Chapter summary
Airbus Defence and Space is Europe's largest EO incumbent, operating very-high-resolution Pléiades Neo satellites (30 cm), the SPOT series, radar satellites (TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X with the German Aerospace Center) and a large archive, and building satellites for governments worldwide.
Key takeaways
- 1
Thales Alenia Space and OHB build Copernicus and national satellites; Telespazio's e-GEOS distributes Italian data and runs the IRIDE marketplace; Leonardo leads one of the EOGS architecture studies.
- 2
These incumbents are prime contractors for sovereign systems and increasingly partner with newer operators.
- 3
Their EO data businesses are smaller than their manufacturing businesses and are reported inside larger groups.
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