It is full steam ahead for Italy’s 1.1 billion euro project IRIDE to create a new constellation of satellites for Earth observation offering on-demand services to meet market and public administration requirements. The goal now is to put the more than 60 satellites into orbit by 2025 and have them operational the following year. IRIDE is being implemented by Italy under the supervision of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the framework of the EU-funded post-Covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
"Today the Iride project becomes a reality,” said Minister for Business and Made in Italy, with responsibility for space and aerospace policies, Adolfo Urso, at the event organized at the headquarters of the Center for Earth Observation (Esrin) of ESA.
“It is a result that represents the first achievement set out under the NRRP," the minister added. IRIDE is one of Italy's most ambitious space programmes, involving the development of a constellation of small and medium-sized satellites capable of observing the Earth using different technologies (optical, multispectral and radar), with a high frequency and a particular focus on the Mediterranean. "It is a constellation of small constellations," each specializing in one area of observation, said Simonetta Cheli, head of the ESA's Earth Observation Directorate.
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