Astrium is the prime contractor for this French national programme for the design and production of a space based optical early warning system demonstrator and will supply the alert and monitoring ground segment. Thales Alenia Space developed the satellites whilst Astrium was responsible for satellite integration and in-orbit operations.
The demonstrator called SPIRALE (French acronym for "Preparatory System for IR Early Warning") covers the supply and operation of a complete system able to collect and analyse infrared imagery against a land background, in order to detect ballistic missiles during their boost phase, just after launch.
The space segment consists of two 120 kg class micro-satellites operating in an elliptical orbit, launched by Ariane 5 in February 2009. The first of its kind in Europe, this demonstrator programme will pave the way for a future operational, early warning optical space programme. It will form a strategic link in an anti-ballistic missile defence system and will also contribute to other operational missions, such as proliferation monitoring.
