CNES Seeks Partners to Mass-Produce Compact Optical Telescopes

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:59:01 +0000

Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash

The French space agency CNES is looking for an industrial partner to develop and qualify a compact optical telescope for future satellite constellations. The agency says the design must be suitable for mass production, with production volumes exceeding 1,000 units. According to a request for information (RFI) published on 18 August, the project is aimed at turning a CNES-defined optical design into a compact, low-cost telescope that can be manufactured rapidly and at scale for future constellations. The agency says the telescope could support a broad range of imaging applications, including detection, surveillance and identification.

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CNES Seeks Partners to Mass-Produce Compact Optical Telescopes