Telespazio has been awarded a contract by ESA to develop the coordination and data access system of the Copernicus programme

Rome  27 June 2019

As part of the European Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, Telespazio was awarded a contract as main contractor by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop, maintain, and manage operations for the PRISM (Copernicus Contributing Missions access Support Functions and Platform) system.

The contract is worth EUR 12.5 million, and will run for 34 months, with the possibility of an optional extension of up to a further 24 months.

This system makes it possible to distribute satellite data generated by the Copernicus contributing missions to ESA users engaged in managing emergencies, monitoring the environment, and security.

PRISM is an evolution of the CDS V3 system operated by Telespazio as a result of a tender process won in 2014 and will be completely deployed over a commercial cloud. It will be fully integrated with the ESA’s Sentinel missions, Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed  satellites, and other EO missions associated with the Copernicus programme.

The tasks are managed by an international consortium headed by Telespazio, which also includes the Italian company Serco (main partner, responsible for operations), the Italian ONDA DIAS for cloud services, supplied by Serco via OVH cloud provider, Intecs, and Werum companies and other European partners.

Telespazio once again confirms that it is one of the European Space Agency’s main suppliers for high-tech systems, applications and services and plays a role of prime importance as industrial partner in the Copernicus programme.

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