MADRID, Spain - Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse, France, and Hisdesat in Madrid have agreed to extend and expand their long-standing collaboration in the international radar Earth observation market with a new agreement to commercialize imagery and applications from the future PAZ-2 radar satellites.
The agreement was formalized during the European Space Conference in Brussels and builds on an existing partnership established in 2018 for the commercialization of radar imagery from the PAZ satellite operating in a constellation with Germany’s TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites.
"This partnership aims to push the boundaries of synthetic aperture radar-based Earth observation and provide innovative solutions to meet growing global demand across military and commercial markets," said Eric Even, head of Space Digital at Airbus Defence and Space.
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Miguel Angel Garcia Primo, chief executive officer of Hisdesat, said reinforcing the commercial alliance "will ensure the continuity of the excellent work carried out since 2018 between the Hisdesat and Airbus teams" and "will drive the penetration of SAR imagery, capable of operating in any weather conditions, compared with other Earth observation tools."
Earth observation
Led by the Spanish Ministry of Defence and Hisdesat, PAZ-2 is a next-generation Earth observation program consisting of two satellites that will replace the current PAZ spacecraft, which has been in service since 2018. The new satellites are intended to ensure continuity while enhancing existing capabilities. The program is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism and will provide radar imagery and services primarily to the Spanish Ministry of Defence.
The PAZ-2 satellites will operate in constellation and incorporate advanced technologies designed to deliver image resolution of up to 10 centimeters. Each satellite is expected to provide coverage of up to 6.7 million square kilometers per day, with a maximum image swath width of 500 kilometers.
To support time-sensitive operations, the PAZ-2 mission is designed to deliver near-real-time services, with latency from image acquisition to availability of about five minutes.
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The enhanced capabilities are expected to strengthen intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for defense and security missions and to support civil applications, including infrastructure monitoring, risk management, border control, and disaster assessment. The first PAZ-2 satellite is expected to enter service by mid-2031.
