CERES (satellite)

French military satellite program

CERES

CERES satellite

Mission type| SIGINT
Operator| CNES / DGA
COSPAR ID| 2021-105A
2021-105B
2021-105C
SATCAT no.| 49464
49465
49466
Spacecraft properties
Bus| EliteBus
Manufacturer| Thales Alenia Space (bus),
Airbus Defence and Space (payload)
Launch mass| 516 kg (1,138 lb) (each)
Start of mission
Launch date| 16 November 2021, 09:27:55 UTC[1]
Rocket| Vega VV20
Launch site| Centre Spatial Guyanais,
Kourou, ELA-1
Contractor| Arianespace
Orbital parameters
Reference system| Geocentric orbit
Regime| Semi-synchronous orbit
Perigee altitude| 669 km (416 mi)
Apogee altitude| 672 km (418 mi)
Inclination| 75.00°
Period| 90.00 minutes

CERES (CapacitÉ de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale) is a French space-based electronic surveillance constellation designed to collect intelligence of electromagnetic origins anywhere in the world. Consisting of three formation-flying satellites, it was developed by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space under the management of the CNES for the French defence procurement agency (DGA).

Launched in November 2021, the satellites are expected to reach their final orbit, 700 km from Earth, after a few months and full operational capability by the end of 2022. Their purpose is to allow France to gather data that was previously inaccessible from land, sea, or airborne sensors, and for the French military to more quickly and effectively adapt to new operational scenarios. An all-weather system operational 24/7, the CERES constellation is notably capable of tracking, identifying and mapping enemy radars, air defenses and command centers.[2]

The CERES will replace the ELISA demonstrator, a cluster of four satellites that were deorbited in the summer of 2021 after ten years of service.

## History

[edit]

The collection of electromagnetic intelligence is a strategic tool for France. In order to master this technology, CNES has developed and launched the Essaim and ELISA. These demonstrators set the framework for an operational program called CERES. Like its predecessors, CERES is made up of satellites flying in formation (in close proximity to each other). It can pick up electromagnetic signals on the ground and is able to triangulate the position of transmitters, making the 3 satellites capable of detecting, locating and characterizing radar and telecommunication transmitters.[3] Airbus Defence and Space is responsible for the integration of the complete system and the space segment comprising the three satellites, while Thales is responsible for the entire mission chain and system performance, from the onboard payload to the user ground segment. In addition, Thales Alenia Space has provided Airbus with the satellite platforms. The program cost is estimated at €450 million.[4][5]

The three satellites forming CERES were to be placed in orbit in 2020 by a Vega rocket, which was ordered from Arianespace in January 2016. However, following an anomaly on a casing, which led to some additional work, it was announced in October 2019 that the launch of a first satellite scheduled for 2020 would be postponed to 2021. The launch finally took place on 16 November 2021, at 09:27:55 UTC, onboard of the Vega flight VV20,[1] with all 3 satellites being sent instead of one. Full operational capability is expected to be reached by the end of 2022 but it was reported they were used operationally for the first time in spring 2022 in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* Spaceflight portal

* Essaim
* ELISA
* Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellites

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Arianespace will launch three CERES Earth observation satellites for French defense and security applications on board Vega". Arianespace. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
2. ^ "CERES spy satellites, France's new space surveillance weapon". 16 November 2021.
3. ^ (in French)[1] DGA press release
4. ^ "Le CNES démarre CERES et SWOT" (in French). AIR & COSMOS. 31 March 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
5. ^ "Airbus, Thales Win €450M Contract to Build French SIGINT Satellites". defence-aerospace.com. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
6. ^ "Commission des affaires étrangères, de la défense et des forces armées : compte rendu de la semaine du 2 mai 2022". 29 May 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Earth reconnaissance satellites (excluding China, Russia and the United States)

France |

| IMINT|

* Hélios IA & IB
* Hélios 2A & 2B
* Pléiades IA & IB
* Pléiades Neo 3 & 4
* CSO-1
* CSO-2
* CSO-3

|

SIGINT|

* Cerise
* Clémentine
* Essaim
* Elisa (× 4)
* CERES (× 3)

Germany |

| Radar IMINT|

* SAR-Lupe
* TerraSAR-X
* TanDEM-X

|

India |

| IMINT|

* Cartosat-1
* Cartosat-2
* Cartosat-2A
* Cartosat-2B
* Cartosat-2C
* Cartosat-2D
* Cartosat-2E
* Cartosat-2F
* Cartosat-3
* Microsat-R

|

Radar IMINT|

* RISAT-1
* RISAT-2
* RISAT-2B
* RISAT-2BR1
* RISAT-1A

SIGINT|

* EMISAT

Israel |

| IMINT|

* Ofeq-5
* Ofeq-7
* Ofeq-9

|

Radar IMINT|

* Ofeq-8 (TecSAR)
* Ofeq-10 (TecSAR 2)
* Ofeq-11

Italy |

| Radar IMINT|

* COSMO-SkyMed

|

Japan |

| IMINT|

* IGS 1A/B
* IGS 2A/B
* IGS 3A
* IGS 4A/B
* IGS 5A
* IGS 6A
* IGS 7A
* IGS 8A/B

|

Pakistan |

| IMINT|

* PRSS-I

|

South Korea |

| IMINT|

* ANASIS-II

|

Spain |

| Radar IMINT|

Paz

|

Turkey |

| IMINT|

* Göktürk-1
* Göktürk-2
* Göktürk-3

|

United Kingdom |

| IMINT|

* Carbonite-2

|

* v
* t
* e

← 2020

Orbital launches in 2021

2022 →

January|

* Türksat 5A
* PICS 1, PICS 2, Q-PACE, TechEdSat-7
* Tiantong-1 03
* Starlink V1.0-L16 (60 satellites)
* Starlink v1.0 R1 (10 satellites), ION-SCV 002 (Flock-4s × 8, SpaceBEE × 12), Capella 3, Capella 4, ICEYE × 3, Hawk × 3, Astrocast × 5, Flock-4s × 40, HYPSO-1, Kepler × 8, Lemur-2 × 8, PTD-1, SpaceBEE × 24
* Yaogan 31-02 (3 satellites)

February|

* Kosmos 2549 / Lotos-S1 №4
* Starlink V1.0-L18 (60 satellites)
* TJS 6
* Progress MS-16
* Starlink V1.0-L19 (60 satellites)
* Cygnus NG-15 (MMSAT-1, GuaraniSat-1, Maya-2, OPUSAT-II, RSP-01, STARS-EC, WARP-01)
* Yaogan 31-03 (3 satellites)
* Amazônia-1, SpaceBEE × 12

March|

* Starlink V1.0-L17 (60 satellites)
* Starlink V1.0-L20 (60 satellites)
* Shiyan 9
* Yaogan 31-04 (3 satellites)
* Starlink V1.0-L21 (60 satellites)
* CAS500-1, Suisen / Fukui Prefectural Satellite, Kepler 6, Kepler 7
* Photon Pathstone, BlackSky Global 9
* Starlink V1.0-L22 (60 satellites)
* OneWeb L5 (36 satellites)
* Gaofen 12-02

April|

* Starlink V1.0-L23 (60 satellites)
* Shiyan 6-03
* Soyuz MS-18
* SpaceX Crew-2
* OneWeb L6 (36 satellites)
* USA-314 / KH-11 18
* Pléiades-Neo 3, Lemur-2 AMANDA-SVANTE, Lemur-2 SPECIAL K
* Tianhe
* Starlink V1.0-L24 (60 satellites)
* Yaogan 34

May|

* Starlink V1.0-L25 (60 satellites)
* Yaogan 30-08 (3 satellites)
* Starlink V1.0-L27 (60 satellites)
* Starlink V1.0-L26 (52 satellites), Capella 6
* USA-315 / SBIRS-GEO 5
* HaiYang-2D
* Starlink V1.0-L28 (60 satellites)
* Tianzhou 2
* OneWeb L7 (36 satellites)

June|

* Fengyun 4B
* SpaceX CRS-22
* SXM-8
* USA-316, USA-317, USA-318
* Shenzhou 12
* USA-319 / GPS IIIA-05
* Yaogan 30-09 (3 satellites)
* Kosmos 2550 / Pion-NKS №1
* Progress MS-17
* Brik-II, STORK-4, STORK-5
* Starlink V1.0-R2 (3 satellites), ION-SCV 003 (SPARTAN), SHERPA FX2 (Lynk 05, Astrocast × 5, Lemur-2 × 3, SpaceBEE × 12), SHERPA LTE1 (KSF1 × 4), Capella 5, ICEYE × 4, Hawk × 3, ÑuSat × 4, Lemur-2 × 3, LINCS A, LINCS B, SpaceBEE × 12, SpaceBEE NZ × 4, Tiger-2, TROPICS Pathfinder

July|

* OneWeb L8 (36 satellites)
* Jilin-1 Kuanfu-01B, Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D x 3
* Fengyun-3E
* Tianlian I-05
* Yaogan 30-10 (3 satellites)
* Nauka (European Robotic Arm)
* Eutelsat Quantum, Star One D2

August|

* Jilin-1 Mofang-01A†
* ChinaSat 2E
* Cygnus NG-16
* EOS-03 / GISAT-1†
* Pléiades Neo 4
* OneWeb L9 (34 satellites)
* TJS-7
* SpaceX CRS-23 (Maya-3, Maya-4)

September|

* Gaofen 5-02
* ChinaSat 9B
* Kosmos 2551 / EO MKA №1
* Starlink G2-1 (51 satellites)
* OneWeb L10 (34 satellites)
* Inspiration4
* Tianzhou 3
* Jilin-1 Gaofen-02D
* Shiyan 10
* Landsat 9, CUTE

October|

* Soyuz MS-19
* OneWeb L11 (36 satellites)
* CHASE
* Shenzhou 13
* Lucy
* Shijian 21
* SES-17, Syracuse 4A
* QZS-1R
* Jilin-1 Gaofen-02F
* Progress MS-18

November|

* RAISE-2, HIBARI, Z-Sat, DRUMS, TeikyoSat-4, ASTERISC, ARICA, NanoDragon, KOSEN-1
* SpaceX Crew-3
* CERES x 3
* DART (LICIACube)
* Progress M-UM (Prichal)
* Yaogan 32-2 (2 satellites)
* Yaogan 35 (3 satellites)

December|

* Starlink 24 (48 satellites)
* Soyuz MS-20
* IXPE
* Ekspress-AMU3
* Ekspress-AMU7
* Starlink 25 (52 satellites)
* Türksat 5B
* SpaceX CRS-24
* Inmarsat-6 F1
* James Webb Space Telescope

Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ).
Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
*[no.]: number
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template