Toulouse, 17 March 2011 - Astrium GEO-Information Services is the sole distributor of the Formosat-2 satellite’s imagery. This high resolution satellite is the only satellite, due to its atypical orbit, capable of taking images of the same point every day. This unique ability enables the international community to follow the evolution of the Japanese earthquake disaster day by day. This is why Astrium is making its satellite imagery experts available to provide analysis reports regarding the affected areas.

These experts analyse the images from space on a daily basis, providing vital information to the emergency crews on the ground about the state of roads, bridges, buildings, nuclear and other plants. This interpreted data should assist the ground crews and emergency teams as they tackle the crisis, providing up to date information when undertaking rescue efforts, assessing the damage to infrastructure and coordinating potential evacuations.

A daily report will be produced and available for the next seven days after registering at   https://monitoring.spotimage.com

About Astrium

Astrium is the number one company in Europe for space technologies and a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services.

In 2010, Astrium had a turnover of €5 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 comprehensive end-to-end solutions covering secure and commercial satcoms and networks, high security satellite communications equipment, bespoke geo-information and navigation services worldwide.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2010, the Group – comprising Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter – generated revenues of € 45.8 billion and employed a workforce of nearly 122,000.

Press contacts:

Daniel Mosely (Astrium UK)                                      Tel.: +44 (0)1 438 77 8180

Matthieu Duvelleroy (Astrium FR)                        Tel.: +33 (0) 1 77 75 80 32
Ralph Heinrich (Astrium GER)                                    Tel.: +49 (0) 89 607 33971
Francisco Lechón (Astrium SP)                                   Tel.: +34 91 586 37 41