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 […]
Enensys Technologies, a leading provider of media delivery solutions, is pleased to announce its collaboration with Telespazio, a Leonardo (67 per cent) and Thales (33 per cent) joint venture, to provide EUMETSAT with a new uplink service for EUMETCast Europe – a satellite broadcasting system to feed local Meteorological agencies with advanced real-time data for […]
There’s growing interest in High Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) which can take the form of very high-flying aircraft or balloons and airships. Thales Alenia Space has won a contract from the European Commission to proceed with development of its EuroHAPS project. The contract is worth €43 million and will fund a demonstration craft which Thales […]
Thales Alenia Space has praised the European Space Agency (ESA) and its $16.9 billion (€15.9bn) – up 17 per cent – budget for the next three years. Against this backdrop, Thales Alenia Space, the joint company between Thales (67 per cent) and Leonardo (33 per cent) said it would be building on 2022’s success where […]
The planned launch by Arianespace of the important Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite on September 6th was halted ahead of lift-off. High altitude winds were to blame. The Very High Throughput Satellite is claimed to be the most powerful craft to be orbited. A new launch time is expected on September 7th at 09.45 UTC. It […]