Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Jean Dauphin, Director Earth Observation Navigation and Science - Astrium France, announced that they have signed the launch service and solutions contract for the DZZ-HR satellite.

The DZZ-HR high-resolution observation satellite is being built by Astrium for the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Weighing 900 kg at launch, the DZZ-HR satellite will be launched by Arianespace's Vega light launcher into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 750 km. It will be launched from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana, in the second quarter of 2014.

The DZZ-HR system will be independently controlled by Kazakh operators who have been trained by Astrium. Using images acquired by the DZZ-HR satellite from the entire planet, the system will provide very-high-quality panchromatic and multispectral products for a wide range of applications, including cadastral surveys, management of natural resources, environmental monitoring and homeland surveillance.

Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said: "Today, with the European launcher Vega, we can offer all customers new launch services for this type of mission.

This is the third contract for Vega, after Sentinel 2 and 3, and this time we are serving an end-customer outside of Europe. We are also delighted to be working once again with Astrium Satellites, with whom we have a long-standing relationship of mutual trust."