The Myriade product line, a real success story

Abstract

Myriade is a recent multipurpose flight proven platform developed by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in partnership with the industry. The 60 kg platform can accommodate any kind of payload (optical, radar, telecom, etc.), up to 70 – 80 kg of mass. Up to now, as many as 16 satellites based on the Myriade platform have been launched, or are under development, under the Prime Contractorship of CNES (four satellites, scientific applications) or Astrium (12 satellites, high resolution earth observation, or military demonstration). The payloads are various and encompass all applications. This record makes the Myriade platform a real success, and probably the most efficient LEO platform product line ever developed in Europe. It is a candidate worth considering when planning missions and at the same time ambitious, operational, and affordable. Six satellites have been launched and show in-orbit behaviour which exceeds expectation. Astrium has a unique experience on the Myriade product line, gained through an efficient and successful partnership with CNES materialized by the prime contractorship of 12 Myriade based satellites for several customers. This paper recalls the missions and presents analysis about the success criteria of such a product line. A conclusion shall be proposed to highlight what could be the next step of this success story.