Rendition of PeruSat in orbit. Photo: Airbus.

PeruSat 1 has completed its first year of operation and the Peruvian government has recently declared that, in that time, the investment it has made into the satellite program has already been recouped. The Airbus-built Earth Observation (EO) satellite has acquired more than 71,000 images which have been delivered to more than 80 organizations across Peru. Peruvian specialists from the National Satellite Image Operation Center (CNOIS) located in Pucusana, near Lima, have been in control of the satellite since handover from Airbus on Dec. 7th, 2016.

PeruSat 1 provides very high resolution imagery for multiple applications, including security and defense, agriculture, mining, illegal deforestation, risk prevention, mapping, urban planning, land use, ecological economy zoning, and countering drug trafficking, among others. The satellite system includes the satellite itself, with optical sub-metric resolution of 70 centimeters and a design lifetime of 10 years. It also includes the construction of the CNOIS as the satellite control center and the processing and management of the images acquired. In addition the system encompassed a technology transfer program and training for the team that operates the satellite today.

Peru’s Space Agency (CONIDA) has been collaborating and working in coordination with many state institutions that receive the satellite images and developed new products. Peru’s National Police, for example, uses the data for drug trafficking intelligence and property identification.