COSMO – SkyMed

Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation

An eye on the Earth

It is one of the most innovative Earth observation programs.

It consists of a constellation of four identical satellites.

The satellites were launched on June 7, 2007, December 9, 2007, October 25, 2008, and November 5, 2010, respectively.

They were launched from the U.S. Base of Vandergerg in California, with the Boeing Delta II launcher.

The four satellites are equipped with radar sensors working at frequencies from 7 to 12.5 GHz (part of the microwaves range in the electromagnetic spectrum).

These satellites are capable to make observations through clouds and in absence of sunlight.

An area of the Earth can be observed with a resolution up to one meter, day or night and in any weather conditions.

The time to revisit of the satellite (the time elapsing between two observations on the same point) is very short, less than eleven hours; this allows monitoring continuously the evolution of an event in a particular area.

COSMO – SkyMed provides global coverage of our planet. It is the first Earth observation satellite system that is designed for civil and military purposes.

The program is funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Scientific Research and developed by ASI (Italian Space Agency) in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Defense.

The applications are designed to defend the territory from fires, landslides, droughts, floods, pollution, earthquakes, management of the natural resources in agriculture and monitoring of the urban sprawl.

Recently, the system of satellites COSMO – SkyMed has been used to monitor the leakage of fuel from the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which sank in front of the Giglio island on January 13, 2012, and to monitor and detect any traces of oil pollution.

For more information, please go to the web site:

http://www.asi.it/it/flash/osservare/cosmoskymed

http://www.asi.it/it/news/cosmoskymed_4_in_orbita