IDEAS Secures Contract to Deliver Space Weather Payload for NOAA’s Upcoming SOLAR-A Mission
- erikjakubowski
- 13 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Oslo, August 2026 — Integrated Detector Electronics AS (IDEAS) has signed a contract with
the European Space Agency (ESA) to deliver the Electron-Proton Spectrometer Instrument
(EPSI) for the upcoming SOLAR-A mission, strengthening IDEAS’ role in operational space
weather infrastructure serving Europe and the United States.
SOLAR-A, planned for launch 2029, will operate at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point,
approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, providing continuous, real-time
observations of the solar wind and coronal mass ejections to support operational space
weather forecasting. Under the contract, IDEAS will design, develop, and supply EPSI, a
radiation monitoring instrument built on the company’s flight-proven technology.
EPSI draws on the heritage of two recent IDEAS programs: NORM (Norwegian Radiation
Monitor), which has been operating successfully aboard Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite
Broadband Mission (ASBM) since August 2024, and the Radiation Monitoring Units currently in development for the EU’s Galileo Second Generation satellites under contract with the European Space Agency on behalf of EUSPA.
The EPSI is a payload provided to NOAA trough ESA and financed through Norway´s contribution to ESA´s Space Safety Program. The instrument will measure the kinetic energy of electrons and protons in the space environment, providing data critical to characterising the radiation belts and detecting solar particle events.
On SOLAR-A, EPSI data will support NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in issuing early warnings for geomagnetic storms that can affect power grids, satellite operations, GNSS/GPS accuracy, and aviation and communications systems. The SOLAR-A spacecraft is built by BAE Systems.
“This contract marks an important step for IDEAS as our radiation monitoring technology
becomes part of operational space weather infrastructure serving Norway, Europe, and the United States” said Dr. Gunnar Maehlum, CEO of IDEAS. “It demonstrates the value of
Norwegian space technology in protecting critical systems on Earth and in orbit.”
The contract marks IDEAS’ entry into NOAA’s operational space weather architecture and
extends the company’s radiation monitoring instruments across three major institutional
space programs spanning Norway, the European Union, and the United States.
About IDEAS
IDEAS has a long-standing reputation for excellence in custom electronics for space
applications. Founded in 1992 by scientists from CERN and the University of Oslo, the
company has delivered subsystems for multiple science missions from all major space
agencies worldwide and continues to push the boundaries of detector technology.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Gunnar Maehlum
CEO, Integrated Detector Electronics AS
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