CANARY ISLANDS MONITORING: SIMERA SENSE SECURES MULTISPECTRAL IMAGER CONTRACT

MISSION PROFILE: REGIONAL SURVEILLANCE

Belgium-based Simera Sense has been awarded a contract to supply multispectral imagers for the Canary Islands Satellite Constellation. According to SpaceNews, the firm is manufacturing eight MultiScape100 sensors for Telespazio’s Spanish subsidiary. This follow-up comes after Telespazio Ibérica secured a €21.3 million ($24.4 million) prime contract from the Tenerife Council to spearhead the regional Earth observation initiative.

DATA ARCHITECTURE AND DEPLOYMENT

The constellation is designed to monitor localized environmental threats, including volcanic activity and wildfires across the Spanish archipelago. The hardware layout involves three 80-kilogram satellites built on Spain’s AVS LUR-50 platform:

• ▸Satellites 1 & 2: Three imagers each.
• ▸Satellite 3: Two imagers.

Launch operations for the main trio are scheduled for the second half of 2028, following a technology demonstrator flight in late 2027. Full operational status is projected between 2029 and 2031, providing near-daily coverage of the islands while offering commercial data to international markets.

TERMINAL EVALUATION

Simera Sense CCO Thys Cronje confirmed that the MultiScape100 is flight-proven, with over ten units currently active on platforms such as Hancom InSpace’s Sejong satellites and Open Cosmos’s Phisat-2. Unlike broader European systems, this constellation is optimized for specific regional logistics. The program is expected to stimulate the local aerospace sector in the Canary Islands, creating highly skilled positions and localizing decision-making capabilities for disaster management.