ESA Scout missions, Hibidis and SOVA-S satellites approved

The new units will complement the pre-existing Scout fleet, which includes the HydroGNSS hydrological mission launched in November 2025, the NanoMagSat microsatellite for the study of geomagnetic and solar interactions, and the Tango mission intended for monitoring industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programs at ESA, analyzed the strategic evolution of this sector: “ESA’s Scout missions demonstrate that breakthroughs in Earth science do not always require large budgets and long development times. By acting quickly, embracing innovation and leveraging emerging ideas, these missions demonstrate how agility and creativity can accelerate progress, delivering impactful science and technology in an extraordinarily short space of time. However, the decision to greenlight Hibidis and SOVA-S was not taken lightly and the final decision came only after rigorous evaluation of the four concepts. We congratulate the Hibidis and SOVA-S teams and now look forward to making this a reality“.

The segment of the program assigned to the Italian aerospace industry is represented by the Hibidis project, acronym for Hyperspectral Biodiversity Scout. The satellite will be equipped with a hyperspectral payload designed to operate on multi-angle observation geometries, capable of framing the Earth’s surface from three different orbital inclinations. This optical configuration will allow separating the reflectance spectrum of the upper tree canopies from that of the undergrowth, making new metrics available on the functioning of forest ecosystems. SITAEL, in Italy, operates as the main contractor for the construction of the satellite. The CEO of SITAEL, Chiara Pertosa, commented on the industrial role of the company: “We are proud that SITAEL is leading ESA’s Scout Hibidis mission, dedicated to biodiversity. Thanks to the new Empyreum platform, Hibidis will generate data that is not currently available, opening up new opportunities for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems. I would like to thank our partners AMOS, for the hyperspectral instrument, and VITO and the University of Zurich for the data processing and scientific contribution to the mission“.

The second mission approved, SOVA-S (Satellite Observation of Waves in the Atmosphere – Scout), responds to the need to optimize global energy circulation models by studying the upper thermosphere at altitudes between 80 and 120 kilometers. The carrier will carry a short-wave infrared imaging sensor calibrated to measure variations in the intensity of airglow, the faint light emission produced by photochemical reactions in the upper atmosphere. The data collected will allow us to quantify the impact of atmospheric gravity waves, which act as vectors of energy transfer from the lower atmosphere to space, influencing extreme meteorology and the precision of GNSS global positioning systems in civil aviation. System integration is entrusted to OHB Czechspace as prime contractor.

OHB Czechspace CEO Vit Pavelec highlighted the cross-border value of the project: “The selection of SOVA-S marks an important milestone for both our team and the Czech space sector. As prime contractor, we are proud to lead the development of what will be the largest satellite ever built in the Czech Republic. Equally important is the strong Czech-Bavarian cooperation with DLR and industrial partners, together with the close Czech-German collaboration on the satellite platform, demonstrating Europe’s ability to pool expertise across borders to realize ambitious space missions“.