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Press Release

Onera’s Grave space surveillance system wins Grand Prize
from French Academy of Air and Space

Châtillon, June 20, 2007

Each year the French Academy of Air and Space awards its Grand Prize in recognition of a “person or a team, European or international, who stands out because of a high-quality scientific, technical or cultural action concerning aerospace, by contributing to or helping spread new knowledge.” The Academy has awarded this year’s prize to the Graves space surveillance system developed by Onera for the French air force, under contract to the defense procurement agency DGA.

The Graves system comprises a special radar associated with a processing system, allowing it to create and update a database of satellite orbital parameters, fully autonomously. It is capable of detecting objects as small as a micro-satellite, orbiting at a latitude greater than 35° and at an altitude from 400 to 1,000 kilometers, and determining the orbit in less than 24 hours. Once the object has been cataloged, the system can tell where it will be in the following days. Since starting operation in December 2005, Graves has listed and tracks on a daily basis more than 2,200 objects flying over France at some point in their orbit, including several dozen satellites considered “sensitive”.

The Grand Prize award ceremony will be held on November 23, 2007 during the Academy’s annual assembly in the “Salle des Illustres” at the Capitole in Toulouse. 

 

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Onera is the leading aerospace and defense research & technology organization in France. Created in 1946, it is a state-owned entity reporting to the French Ministry of Defense. Onera has 2,000 employees, deploying their multidisciplinary expertise and an array of test facilities unrivaled in Europe for both public agencies and industry. A proven source of innovation, expertise and long-term vision, Onera has contributed to many of today’s aerospace and defense benchmarks, including Ariane 5, Airbus, Eurocopter helicopters and the Rafale combat aircraft.
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Last Update: June 18, 2007 - © ONERA 2009 - Terms of use