GomSpace A/S and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a contract for the ESA SCOUT Earth Observation mission to be launched in 2024.
The contract value is 24 million euros. GomSpace revenue impact is 10 million euros, whereof direct GomSpace revenue share will be 7 million euros.
The mission will consist of 3x12U cubesats and will become the first “climate mission” of its kind. In more detail, the mission aims to understand and quantify processes in the tropical upper troposphere and stratosphere, study its variability and contribute to trends analysis in its composition and its effects on climate and vice-versa.
The mission will be executed in collaboration with Science and Technology Facilities Council’s RAL Space (UK) who will provide the scientific instruments and ENPULSION (AT) who will provide the propulsion solution for the mission.
The Scout mission ESP-MACCS focuses on understanding and quantifying atmospheric processes in the upper troposphere and in the stratosphere. In particular, it will make observations in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes to observe gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide as well as aerosols – all of which play a key role in the greenhouse effect and climate change. The mission comprises three 12-litre cubesats, each carrying thermal infrared spectrometer, as well as a visible near-infrared hyperspectral solar disk imager as a secondary instrument.