Thales Alenia Space (TAS), much rumoured to be considering merging itself with rivals Airbus Defence & Space, has very publicly stated that it can live quite happily without a merger. At a presentation on November 14th made by CEO Hervé Derrey he explained how he saw 2025 – and beyond – panning out. He said […]

Aerospace giant Airbus Defence & Space CEO Guillaume Faury told analysts that he would prefer to merge all of its Space Division with rival satellite specialist Thales Alenia Space’s similar activity. However, he added that if Europe’s anti-trust and political regulators found that difficult to approve, then Airbus would slice merger transactions into small pieces […]

The overpowering message to emerge from last week’s Asia Satellite Industry Forum is that the likes of SkyPerfectJSAT, AsiaSat, Measat and ABS are all missing the potential business that could flow from low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. The key speakers all admitted that partnerships with LEO players would help relieve the slow, but steady, decline […]

The high-flying geostationary satellite business is in the doldrums. Worse, Boeing Satellite Systems, which with its then popular 701 and 702 models (developed from its acquisition of Hughes Electronics back in 2000), once played a vital part of many major satellite operator’s fleets. However, in 2023 – according to Marc-Henri Serre SVP at Thales Alenia […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has allocated a budget of €233 million to build a satellite with a target millimetre-level accuracy as the initial ‘demonstrator’ move for its Genesis and LEO-PNT scheme. The budget also covers two 5-satellite mini-constellations for a future orbital Positioning, Navigation and Timing system which are key elements for its Sat-Nav […]

Telkomsat-113BT (Merah Putih 2) is due for a launch today [February 20], weather permitting, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3.11pm Florida-time when the launch window opens. The High Throughput Satellite launch will happen from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. The customer is PT Telkom Satelit Indonesia (Telkomsat) and will be placed […]

Hellas Sat, majority owned by Arabsat, has agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Thales Alenia Space to collaborate on the development of an optical communication payload for the upcoming new mission to be embarked on the future HellasSat 5 telecommunications satellite, which will orbit at 39 degrees East. The partnership between Hellas Sat and […]

A media delegation from South Korea visited the Thales Alenia Space satellite production facility in Toulouse, France, to examine Koreasat 6A and its payload. The visitors heard that the launch is on schedule for the winter of 2024-2025. The satellite uses Thales Alenia’s flight-proven Spacebus 4000 system, and will replace Koreasat 6 currently in orbit. […]

IRIS2 is the proposed European mega-constellation of multi-orbiting satellites. IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) is planned to be deployed beginning in 2027. It will be a public-private financed scheme. The ‘private’ element comprises a wide-ranging consortium which includes the likes of SES, Airbus Defense & Space, Eutelsat, Hispasat and Thales Alenia […]

SpaceX successfully launched a powerful and much-needed Indonesian communications satellite on June 18th. The new craft, SATRIA, is the linchpin in a $550 million project to provide high-speed internet access to schools, medical centres and thousands of public and government facilities across the island nation. A Falcon 9 rocket, using a booster stage that was […]