Deimos proudly announces its latest milestone achievement: securing the contract for the development of the Mission Planning Facility (FMPF) for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Fluorescence EXplorer (FLEX) mission*. This significant win solidifies Deimos’ position as a key player in Ground Segment Systems and underscores its commitment to advancing Earth observation capabilities.
The FLEX mission, an integral component of ESA’s Living Planet Programme, will redefine the way we monitor and understand Earth’s vegetation health and photosynthetic activity. Scheduled for launch in 2025, FLEX holds the promise of providing global maps of vegetation fluorescence, essential for assessing plant health, stress levels, and their impact on the global carbon cycle. These insights will be invaluable for agricultural management and addressing the burgeoning challenges of global food security.
Elecnor Deimos, with its extensive experience and cutting-edge capabilities in space technology, will lead the development of the Flex’s Mission Planning Facility, the central hub for planning the satellite’s payload activities, ensuring the successful execution of FLEX’s ambitious mission objectives.
Key functions of the FMPF will include orchestrating the FLORIS instrument’s nominal measurement mode over specific ground areas, managing various instrument calibration modes, and facilitating X-band data dumps through a network of supporting acquisition stations. The FMPF is expected to streamline mission operations and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of FLEX’s data collection efforts.
“Winning the FMPF contract for the ESA’s FLEX mission is not only a testament to Deimos’ technical expertise but also our commitment to advancing our understanding of Earth’s ecosystems. FLEX will provide us with unprecedented insights into vegetation health, contributing to global sustainability and food security. We are honored to play a key role in this transformative mission,” says Carlos Lluch, Ground Segment Systems Director at Deimos.
This contract for the FLEX mission follows a series of successful Mission Planning Facility (MPF) wins by Deimos for various Earth observation (EO) missions, including Biomass, Aeolus, Sentinel-2, and LuxEOSys, underlining Deimos’ track record in supporting critical EO missions. Deimos has also developed the Planning Facility for the European Exoplanet hunter CHEOPS, showcasing its diverse capabilities and expertise.
The development of the FMPF has already commenced in the last quarter of 2023 and Deimos is committed to delivering the first version of this pivotal tool by the end of the March 2024. This milestone will mark a significant step toward realizing the goals of the FLEX mission.
*The FLEX MPF contract is carried under ESA Living Planet’s FLEX mission and it is funded by the European Space Agency. The view expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency.
