The PerúSAT-1 satellite, designed and built by Airbus Defence and Space, has delivered its first images for the Peruvian Space Agency (CONIDA) after its successful launch on 16 September from Kourou.

PerúSAT-1 is based on the AstroBus-S platform featuring a state-of-the-art silicon carbide optical instrument system with 70cm resolution. It will collect images for use in agriculture, urban planning, border control and drug trafficking, and will support the management of humanitarian aid and the evaluation of natural disasters, among other applications.

From now until the end of the year, exhaustive in-orbit tests will be carried out from the CNOIS control centre (Centro Nacional de Operaciones de Imágenes Satelitales) built by Airbus Defence and Space, in Pucusana, south of Lima, to ensure that all subsystems are operating properly.

The PerúSAT-1 satellite system — currently the most powerful Earth observation satellite in the Latin American region — will then be commissioned and handed over to the fully trained Peruvian engineers and technicians of the customer, CONIDA.