The contract is established as a private public partnership, where the final customer – exactEarth of Canada – will make significant investments aside ESA and the participating European companies. The total volume for the two satellites is in the order of 30 M€.

Jochen Harms, Managing Director of LuxSpace, said: “ This is the largest contract, LuxSpace has received so far as prime contractor and it constitutes the next development step for the company as system integrator”.

The two satellites will be launched in 2018 and 2019 respectively. They will have a weight of approximately 100 kg and will provide very high quality AIS data for vessel detection.