ESA signs first Sentinel-3 contract

PARIS, April 16 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says it has signed a $483 million contract with Thales Alenia Space for the ESA's first Sentinel-3 Earth observation satellite.

The satellite will monitor oceanography and land-vegetation as part of the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, or GMES, program. Thales Alenia Space will be responsible for the satellite's design, development and integration.

The contract was signed this week in Paris by the ESA's Director of Earth Observation Volker Liebig and Pascale Sourisse, president and CEO of Thales Alenia Space.

The Sentinel-3 satellite will be placed into a high-inclination, sun-synchronous polar orbit when it is launched during 2012.