Having previously been selected as the prime contractor in early July, Airbus DS has formally received a Eu300 million (US$352 million) order to build the 1,700 kg Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography ALtimeter (CRISTAL) ice monitoriing spacecraft from the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of its Copernicus programme with Thales Alenia Space building the Interferometric Radar Altimeter for Ice and Snow (IRIS) main Ku-/Ka-band radar alitmeter under an 88 million contract with Airbus DS. The spacecraft is to launched into a near polar low Earth orbit in 2027 and will monitor the thickness of the ice in the world.
ESA CRISTAL spacecraft. Courtesy: Airbus DS
