Aerospace technology and Dual Use: COSMO-SkyMed mission status and future perspectives

Italy plays a key role in the Earth Observation (EO) field thanks to the COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) constellation, the most challenging space-borne imaging radar system designed and built in Europe with the aim to establish a global service to satisfy a wide variety of users needs in both Civilian and Defense domain. Fully-operational from 2011, CSK is exploited on a daily base to serve the international EO community. In order to ensure the operation continuity of the first generation constellation, in 2010 the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Italian Ministry of Defense (It MoD) funded the COSMO Second Generation (CSG) program. This paper summarizes the CSK mission status showing future directions and new perspectives.