Open Cosmos announces contract to design, manufacture and commission Alisio-1 satellite

The ALISIO-1 project (Advanced Land-Imaging Satellite for Infrared Observations), financed with funds from the recovery and resilience mechanism of the European Union – NextGenerationEU, will be implemented in 13 months, and includes the design, manufacture, testing and integration of a 6U+ satellite accommodating DRAGO-2 and a laser communication payload.

The main payload, the camera called DRAGO-2, has been fully developed by IACTEC-Espacio, and operates in the SWIR (Short Wave InfraRed) range between 1.0 and 1.7 µm. It is an improved version of its predecessor, DRAGO-1. Its data will allow measurements to be made in the short wave range both in the Canary Islands and in other parts of the world and will allow IACTEC-Espacio to deepen its research on the different applications of this sensor.

Among others, the ALISIO-1 satellite will provide relevant information for:

• Monitoring of the state of vegetation/crops.

• Monitoring of urban development.

• Monitoring of discharges in known areas (e.g. oil platforms).

• Support in firefighting (detection of hot spots and line of fire).

• The evaluation of flooded areas.

In terms of communications, it will be a pioneer in the establishment of optical Space-Earth communications

Rafel Jordá Siquier, founder and CEO of Open Cosmos: “We are delighted to have been selected by the IAC, without a doubt one of the reference institutions in the space sector in Spain. We know the importance of this project for IACTEC-Espacio and the great potential of the SWIR camera developed by the magnificent team that the IAC has in the Canary Islands.”