DEIMOS-1 Satellite

In July 2009 the DEIMOS group launched its first satellite, setting up a complete chain of Earth Observation applications and services in the area of Environment and Natural Resources Monitoring.

The satellite has a multispectral camera operating in three bands - near-IR, red and green - with a resolution of 22 meters and a 630 km swath.

The satellite is based on the Microsat 100 platform, developed by SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, the same company who built the first experimental satellite of the GALILEO system, GIOVE A). It is orbiting the Earth in a circular, polar and sun synchronous orbit, with an inclination of 98º at 686 km altitude.

The innovative combination of a large swath with less than 3 days of revisit time allows image acquisition of the complete Portuguese Territory twice a week and global coverage of Europe every 10 days, with a resolution of only 22 meters, making it particularly suited for applications addressing rapid evolution of phenomena (e.g. vegetation, emergencies, etc).

DEIMOS-1 is part of the international constellation DMC (Disaster Monitoring Constellation), composed of satellites from the UK, China, Nigeria, Algeria and Turkey. The combined use of the constellation satellites provides a unique capacity for Earth Observation, with more than one daily image of any place in the world.

DEIMOS-1 is also an ESA third-party mission, meaning that ESA uses its multi-mission ground systems to acquire, process, archive and distribute data from DEIMOS-1. The data is then available to a set of users under specific agreements and following the ESA Data Policy.