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Parliamentary State Secretary Dorothee Bär visits IABG

On Wednesday, 22 October 2014, Dorothee Bär (Member of the German Bundestag), Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, visits IABG in Ottobrunn. In the context of her visit, Ms Bär will inform herself of the continuation of the environmental qualification tests at the Sentinel-2A satellite that was built by Airbus Defence and Space. The respective tests are currently performed at IABG’s space centre in Ottobrunn.

Together with its “twin”, Sentinel-2B, Sentinel-2A is the “backbone” of worldwide land monitoring in the context of the Copernicus programme of the European Commission and ESA. The two earth observation satellites will permanently monitor global environmental changes on a long-term basis using optical imaging within the infrared range. The gathered data will mostly be used within the areas of land use, soil sealing, spatial planning, forest monitoring, natural disasters (floods, forest fires, landslides, erosion) and humanitarian aid.

The extensive qualification programme comprises various mechanical tests as well as a space simulation test. Beyond that, IABG accomplishes tests to determine the electromagnetic compatibility of the item under test.

IABG has already successfully concluded important elements of the test campaign. End of August the determination of the satellite’s mass characteristics was accomplished. With the vibration tests in the second half of September and the subsequent acoustic test in the middle of October, IABG has now reached an important milestone in the test programme.

At present, shock tests of the satellite are in preparation. They will be followed by the space simulation test. The determination of the satellite’s electromagnetic compatibility represents the conclusion of the qualification programme.

Next to the Secretary of State, IABG expects high-ranking representatives of Airbus Defence and Space and of ESA, who will be available for questions together with IABG experts. In addition, three project engineers will provide information on their work.

The Sentinel-2A satellite is part of ESA’s Copernicus programme and is financed by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. Objective of Sentinel-2A will be to supply multi-spectral earth observation data. The satellite will presumably commence space operation in the coming year.

The high-tech location Ottobrunn stands for space tradition of many decades. Since 1 July 2014, Ottobrunn has been home to the Airbus Defence and Space centre, the second largest space venture worldwide. The enterprise, which also is international space supplier number 1, focuses particularly on booster rocket propulsion, solar generators, electronics, optics, antenna measurements and space-based services in Ottobrunn.