The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand (GISTDA) has selected Airbus as partner for its next-generation national geo-information system. The end-to-end system will make Thailand one of the few nations able to fully exploit geo-information for societal benefits. Fully in line with Thailand’s 4.0 policy, the THEOS-2 programme will constitute a major milestone in the development of Space in the Eastern Economic Corridor and its Digital Park.

As part of the contract, a comprehensive capacity building programme will involve Thai engineers in the development of an integrated geo-information system, ground segment and two Earth observation satellites: a very high-resolution and a small satellite system. The small satellite system from Airbus’ subsidiary SSTL will be assembled and tested in-country by Thai engineers to deliver technology transfer and involve local suppliers. This will be complemented by an extensive training scheme.

From the early stages of the programme, GISTDA will feed its geo-information system with satellite imagery collected by the Airbus constellation of optical and radar Earth observation satellites Pléiades, SPOT, TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, as well as other sources of data.

An optical satellite system delivering 0.5m ground resolution imagery, THEOS-2 is based on Airbus’ AstroBus-S satellite. Scheduled to be launched in 2020, it will secure the service continuity of THEOS-1, an Airbus-built satellite launched in 2008. With the AstroBus-S satellite, Thailand is joining a small circle of nations with sovereign access to very high-resolution geostrategic information.