The EU’s Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius says he has no objection to mergers in the satellite and space production sector. Speaking on April 11th at the New Economy Forum’s Europa Forum in Brussels, he said he was in favour or supporting champions, although did not specifically mention the Airbus and Thales Alenia merger […]
Europe’s two giant aerospace companies are looking to merge their satellite-related businesses. Airbus Defence & Space and Thales Alenia Space are in ‘nonbinding’ talks about merging their two divisions. One third of Thales Alenia is owned by Italy’s Leonardo (and Leonardo also controls two-thirds of Telespazio). Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury, speaking at the Airbus […]
Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67 per cent) and Leonardo (33 per cent), and Hispasat, Redeia’s satellite services operator, have announced the start of the development, manufacturing, verification, and validation phase of the QKD-GEO prototype, Spain’s quantum key distribution system from geostationary orbit. With a budget of €103.5 million, the QKD-GEO mission […]
The IRIS2 consortium, which is seeking to build a satellite mega-constellation on behalf of the European Commission, looks as if it is on the verge of collapse. French newspaper La Tribune says that due to risk assessment, Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Space, the subsidiaries of the two European aerospace giants, have sent a letter […]
The Satellite 2024 conference in Washington opened with its regular panel of satellite manufacturing executives. They admitted that demand for their geostationary craft had dropped. Chris Johnson, CEO at Maxar Space, agreed that demand for geostationary satellites had certainly declined but was far from dead: “It is evolving,” he told delegates, and estimated that the […]
Aerospace giant Thales has reported that it achieved sales of €18.4 billion in 2023, up 4.9 per cent, and with net income up 14 per cent to €1.77 billion. However, its consolidated net income fell 9 per cent (to €1.02 billion because of an “exceptional expense related to pension obligations in the UK”. Its Aerospace […]
Mongolia’s Ministry of Digital Development is buying a Ku-band broadband satellite from Thales Alenia Space. The new national satellite will be placed at 113.6 degrees East. The President of Mongolia, Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, undertook a state visit to France last week and used the visit to reach an agreement with Thales Alenia. The new craft will […]
Technology firm Thales and Netskrt Systems, a provider of edge Content Delivery Networks (eCDNs) for Air, are collaborating to bring passengers full access to streaming video services while inflight. When hosted on Thales’ inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) system, Netskrt’s edge content delivery network (eCDN) will provide content caching for a high-quality streaming experience of […]
The Thales Alenia Space consortium has been awarded a significant €235 million contract from Italy’s Space Agency to design and build an in-orbit satellite servicing craft, or space tug, to enter service in 2026. The object is to use the new craft to refuel an orbiting satellite. The new contract follows on from the European […]
Canada-based satellite operator Telesat, which operates the Anik, Nimiq and Telstar satellites, failed to give investors or analysts any good news on its proposed $5 billion Lightspeed low Earth orbiting broadband fleet. In fact, the news was depressing given the frequent past promises and assurances that all was well with the project. Telesat President/CEO Dan […]