Astrium in the UK Selects GNAT Pro for Environmental Satellite System

Sentinel-1 Project Using Ada for Advanced Radar System

PARIS, NEW YORK and ISTANBUL, May 26, 2009 - DASIA 2009 - AdaCore, provider of the highest quality Ada tools and support, today announced that Astrium in the UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, 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 José 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.”

About Astrium
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defense space systems and services. In 2008, Astrium had revenues of €4.3 billion ($6.0 billion) and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment, and Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defense, and related services. In 2008, EADS generated revenues of €43.3 billion ($60.6 billion) and employed a workforce of more than 118,000. www.astrium.eads.net

About AdaCore
Founded in 1994, AdaCore is the leading provider of commercial software solutions for Ada, a state-of-the-art programming language designed for large, long-lived applications where safety, security, and reliability are critical. AdaCore's flagship product is the GNAT Pro development environment, which comes with expert on-line support and is available on more platforms than any other Ada technology. AdaCore has an extensive world-wide customer base; see http://www.adacore.com/customers/ for further information.

Ada and GNAT Pro see a growing usage in high-integrity and safety-certified applications, including commercial aircraft avionics, military systems, air traffic management/control, railroad systems, and medical devices, and in security-sensitive domains such as financial services.

AdaCore has North American headquarters in New York and European headquarters in Paris. www.adacore.com

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