AdaCore has announced that Astrium in the UK dedicated to providing civil and defense space systems and services, has selected the Ada programming language and AdaCore's GNAT Pro development environment for use on the new Sentinel-1 environmental monitoring satellite.

Sentinel-1 is the first of five families of satellites being developed for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program.

GMES, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), is designed to support a sustainable European information network by monitoring, recording and analyzing environmental data and events around the globe. The Sentinel-1 project is scheduled to be completed in October 2011.

This instrument provides high-resolution satellite images by extending radar capabilities to penetrate forests and scrub to reach the ground, and registering any movements or changes on the Earth's surface within a resolution down to 5 meters.

Astrium in the UK will use GNAT Pro to implement the Application Software for the SAR Electronics Sub-system which is used to control Sentinel-1's C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).

As part of the project, AdaCore will also port the GNAT Pro for LEON development environment to the Sensor Electronics Sub-system (SES) on-board computer, enabling compliance with the ESA's stringent ECSS-E-40B and ECSS-Q-80B space engineering and product assurance standards. The LEON2 processor was commissioned by ESA and designed specifically for use in satellite systems.

"Sentinel-1 is a large-scale project that promises to deliver superior environmental monitoring capabilities," said Paul Southwood, software technical engineer, Sentinel-1 Onboard Software project, Astrium (UK).

"We selected Ada based on its reliability and reusability and its strong track record in space applications. We also wanted a development partner that could provide the knowledge, flexibility and responsiveness to meet our specific needs and tight timescales.

"Astrium has worked with AdaCore on a number of successful satellite and space projects, including the TerraSAR-X, which was the first German radar satellite for Earth observation. This experience combined with company's partnership approach and support capabilities made AdaCore the perfect choice for the Sentinel-1 project."

"AdaCore has a long and successful history in the space industry," said Jose Ruiz, AdaCore's team leader on the GNAT Pro Sentinel-1 port. "We are pleased that Astrium in the UK has chosen GNAT Pro as its language technology solution for Sentinel-1, and we look forward to providing a product that will fully meet their project's requirements."