Thales Alenia Space has just won a colossal contract to build from A to Z the future Lightspeed constellation, which will have 298 satellites in low orbit.
Thales Alenia Space has just been awarded a historic contract. The Franco-Italian satellite manufacturer has been selected by the Canadian Telesat to build from A to Z the future Lightspeed constellation, which will have 298 satellites in low orbit. It will be intended to provide high speed internet for professional customers.
While the aeronautics sector is suffering the full brunt of the health crisis, the space sector is showing strong resilience. With this historic contract worth three billion dollars on a global project estimated at five billion, Thales Alenia Space (TAS) has succeeded in establishing itself in the booming market of constellations of telecoms satellites in low orbit. to a historic rival.
The Franco-Italian indeed succeeded in ousting Airbus Defense & Space which was in the final against him. TAS will not only provide the space and mission segments but will also be responsible for end-to-end network performance.
The first thirteen satellites in Toulouse
This contract, qualified internally as “major”, reinforces Thales Alenia Space’s leadership position in the constellation market for which the Franco-Italian had delivered 125 satellites for the Irridium (81 satellites), Globalstar 2 (24), O3B programs (20) and now Telesat. The first thirteen satellites of the Lightspeed constellation will be assembled at its Toulouse site, which employs 3,000 people.
For the rest, the industrial plan will not be completed until the next few months. “There will be significant job creation in Europe and Canada,” said Dan Goldberg, CEO of Telesat.
Thales Alenia Space has already shown in the past its ability to produce satellites in large quantities, in particular for the Irridium constellation, which saw one satellite come out per week from clean rooms. The Toulouse and Cannes sites will be involved in this great mechanic.
The first satellites are due to be launched within two years with the start of commercial services in the second half of 2023. The last launches will take place in 2025, but the full global service will be operational from 2024.
“Lightspeed will offer the same type of performance as terrestrial fiber optic networks, at an affordable cost, on a global scale”, explained Hervé Derrey, CEO of Thales Alenia Space.
The Telesat constellation is added to the many projects in low orbit, such as Starlink from the American SpaceX or Oneweb.
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