COMPANY HISTORY
CLS, a subsidiary of Centre Nationals d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) and several French financial institutions, offers satellite services in location, environmental data collection and ocean observations and monitoring to a broad range of professionals including government, industry and the scientific community.
Within this context, CLS works in close collaboration with CNES, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), European Space Agency (ESA), MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA), European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE).
The CLS Group of Companies entered its 20th Year of operations in the United States of America in January 2006 with a new look and a new way of doing business. In 1986, Service Argos, Inc., was established near Washington, D.C., in order to provide operational services and end-user support for the joint French/USA Argos System. Argos is a satellite-based tracking and data collection system which employs a French electronics package flying aboard a number of U.S. NOAA polar orbiting weather satellites. In 1987, a second company – North American CLS, Inc. – was established in order to provide Argos-based services to a number of commercial users and non-environmental agencies throughout North America.
The CLS Group of Companies entered its 20th Year of operations in the United States of America in January 2006 with a new look and a new way of doing business. In 1986, Service Argos, Inc., was established near Washington, D.C., in order to provide operational services and end-user support for the joint French/USA Argos System. Argos is a satellite-based tracking and data collection system which employs a French electronics package flying aboard a number of U.S. NOAA polar orbiting weather satellites. In 1987, a second company – North American CLS, Inc. – was established in order to provide Argos-based services to a number of commercial users and non-environmental agencies throughout North America.
The Argos Data Collection and Geo-Location System is devoted to monitoring and protection of the earth’s environment. In operational service since 1978, the Argos instruments fly on NOAA’s Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System and the operating terms of the service are defined by an intergovernmental bi-lateral agreement between the United States and France. Argos can locate any platform carrying a suitable transmitter, anywhere in the world, and collect data from sensors connected to that transmitter. The next generation of Argos systems scheduled for late 2006 will enable increasingly lower power transmissions from the users platforms, higher data rates through the satellites, and the capability to dialog with the transmitter/platform device. Argos system enhancements will enable the scientific community to satisfy increasingly difficult data relay needs with a proven, reliable, and robust data collection system as Argos continues its Earth observation and monitoring mission.
On January 1, 2006 Service Argos, Inc., and North American CLS, Inc., merged into a single unit, called CLS America, Inc. The single company enabled a stronger and more cost-effective support of all Argos applications, especially the U.S. governmental scientific users.
CLS America continues to be based in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, with headquarters in Lanham, MD.
