Airbus announces its next generation of Earth observation satellites

Airbus Defence and Space, part of the Europe-based global major aerospace group Airbus, has announced that it is to augment its in-house Earth observation (EO) satellite constellation capability through the development and deployment of the next generation of its Pléiades Neo satellites. Prosaically designated Pléiades Neo Next, the first of the new satellites will be launched in the “next few years”, in Airbus’ words. “The Pléiades Neo Next programme builds on the success of our existing Pléiades Neo constellation which serves government and commercial customers around the world,” affirmed Airbus Defence and Space executive VP connected intelligence Karen Florschütz. “This new programme will further enhance our standard of excellence in terms of quality, performance, and reliability to deliver images as well as geo-intelligence services and applications.”