N° 59–2024: Contract secures build for ESA’s Harmony mission

The contract was signed today by Simonetta Cheli, ESA Director of Earth Observations Programmes, and by Rüdiger Schönfeld, Board Member at OHB System AG, at the International Astronautical Congress, which is taking place in Milan.

Simonetta Cheli said, “We are thrilled to award the industrial contract, worth over €280 million, to OHB System AG as prime contractor for the two Harmony satellites.

“This exciting new mission comprises two identical satellites, each of which carry a receive-only synthetic aperture radar and a multiview thermal-infrared instrument. They will orbit Earth in convoy with a Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite to yield new information to answer important questions on Earth system processes.

“By providing a diverse array of high-resolution measurements of motion occurring at or near Earth's surface, we fully expect Harmony to build on the success of our other Earth Explorer missions. These missions have made significant contributions gaps in our knowledge of how Earth works. And now, Harmony is poised to further enhance our understanding of by delivering valuable data that will benefit Earth system science and climate research.”

Rüdiger Schönfeld added, “We thank ESA for their trust in developing this complex mission and now look forward to getting underway with the build. As our subcontractors for Harmony, Thales Alenia Space in Italy is responsible for the synthetic aperture radar and ABB in Canada is responsible for the thermal-infrared imager.

“With the contract now signed, it’s full steam ahead for Harmony, which has to be built within the next five years in order for the satellites to meet their rendezvous with a Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite.”

Florence Hélière, Harmony Project Manager, added, “The expertise and commitment of our industrial partners are invaluable assets for the Harmony mission, helping us achieve our rendezvous with Sentinel-1 and to advance our scientific understanding of the Earth system.”

The two Harmony satellites will orbit Earth in tandem with a Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite, the configuration of which changes over the course of Harmony’s life in orbit.

In the various configurations, the Harmony satellites’ synthetic aperture radar instruments receive the Sentinel-1 radar signals that bounce back, or ‘backscatter’, from Earth’s surface. At the same time, Harmony’s thermal-infrared instruments provide complementary observations of the sea surface as well as the position and motion of clouds above it.

This technique will provide a wealth of unique data on ocean–ice–atmosphere interactions at unprecedented resolution for more insight into upper-ocean heat exchanges, drivers of extreme weather such as hurricanes and the long-term impacts of climate change.

It will also provide data on surface-wind stress, surface currents, ocean waves and sea-surface temperature at different scales. This is achieved by observing the ocean surface simultaneously from different directions with the satellites’ collocated radar and thermal imaging systems.

Over land, Harmony will provide information to estimate small shifts in the shape of the land surface, such as those leading to and resulting from earthquakes and volcanic activity, thereby contributing to the assessment of geohazards over geologically active areas.

The mission will also provide new information to study 3D deformation and flow dynamics of glaciers at the rapidly changing marginal zones of the ice sheets for a better understanding of how ice being lost from glaciers is affecting sea-level rise.

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