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OHB Italia to be part of the industrial consortium implementing the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer mission

OHB Italia, a subsidiary of the European technology and space group OHB SE, announced to be part of the industrial consortium implementing the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer mission (CIMR). Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33 %), is serving as prime contractor for the CIMR mission and leading the industrial consortium.

The CIMR mission is part of the Copernicus Earth Observation program co-funded by ESA and EU member states. The Italian Space Agency ASI played a key role in financing the CIMR mission during the last Ministerial Conference held in Seville last November 2019. CIMR responds to high-priority requirements from key Arctic user communities.

The mission will provide observations of sea-surface temperature, sea-ice concentration and sea-surface salinity. Uniquely, it would also observe a wide range of other sea-ice parameters. OHB Italia will be responsible for the development and production of the instrument for the two CIMR satellites as subcontractor of Thales Alenia Space Italy.

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 provide global daily coverage with a 6-hour revisit time in Arctic areas for observations of a wide range of sea ice parameters with high spatial resolution, thus making a fundamental contribution to climatology and ecological sustainability. The contract between OHB and Thales Alenia Space is expected to be signed in the upcoming weeks.