Defence group upgrading imagery service for civil, military clients

The Intelligence business of Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus DS) will soon be able to provide clients with a digital platform for imagery (largely, but not solely, from satellites). Called OneAtlas, it is the result of years of development work and testing by the company, which operates its own constellation of optical and radar Earth observation satellites. These provide a broad spectrum of multi-spectral imagery, from wide-swathe low-resolution to narrow-swathe high-resolution. In future, it may also operate very high altitude, extremely long endurance (as long as three months) unmanned air vehicles, a category it designates as high-altitude pseudo-satellites. (Airbus DS is currently manufacturing such aircraft, for the UK Royal Air Force.)