NEWS

THALES ALENIA SPACE SATELLITE 2016

WASHINGTON
7-11 MARCH 2016

Innovation
HTS NG • STRATOBUS

CONSTELLATIONS

SPACEBUS NEO
High Throughput Satellite
for African broadband
COMSAT NG

Countdown to
ExoMars
launch
 “We cannot solve our
problems with the same
thinking we used when
we created them.”

Albert Einstein

“If I had asked people what

they wanted, they would
have said faster horses.”

Henry Ford

INNOVATION
Think
outside
the box
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A
t Thales Alenia Space we have always believed Space Station, which is set to transform space exploration - a
that Innovation is the foundation for the ongoing first step towards the on-site production of tools, spare parts or
success of our organization and it is our view even entire structures in orbit. Our push for innovation is paying
that, what drives innovation is creativity. We off in other areas too. As specialists in manufacturing satellite
encourage our men and women to think outside constellations, we are not only building on the experience we
the box, enhancing teamwork and productivity, helping us to have gained from creating a range of programs such as ELiTeBUS,
stay at the forefront of space manufacturing. With this in mind, we O3b and LeoSat phase A, we are also creating advanced new
have ramped up our innovation focus in recent years and now technologies to add to that heritage. In March 2016 we will
we are reaping the first benefits. In 2014, Thales Alenia Space launch one of the world’s greatest feats of human engineering:
created an Innovation Cluster, a ExoMars, Europe’s mission to
cross-networking collaboration to explore the red planet. As prime
stimulate ideas and intensively contractor, Thales Alenia Space
encourage our teams to exchange is leading the industrial teams and
knowledge and expertise. The creating innovations on board this
aim is to broaden the innovation sophisticated spacecraft. This is just
culture throughout our company the beginning.
and involve everybody in
generating a pipeline of ideas to Our men and women are working
prepare the future. Functioning on a variety of very exciting ideas,
as a nursery and an innovation with ground-breaking concepts
accelerator, the cluster addresses and products in the pipeline, such as
all aspects of innovation, business, our 5Ghz constellation which will
technology and industry. And enable Unmanned Arial Vehicles,
today we are seeing the first results. UAVs, to fly in civilian air space.
Through the Innovation Cluster,
In 2015, one of the ventures Thales Alenia Space intension is
from our Innovation Cluster to play an active role in shaping
enabled Thales Alenia Space to differentiate ourselves against future space markets. Through our Business and Open innovation
our international competitors and win the contract to build approaches we are opening our door to the most pioneering
Bangladesh’s telecommunications satellite, Bangabandhu. initiatives worldwide.
Thales Alenia Space has been extremely active in many
other sectors as well, with exciting results. On behalf By deploying significant resources, the
of the French Government, we will develop as Prime
Innovation Cluster is designed to accelerate
Contractor our ambitious Stratobus platform which will
the commercialization of attractive
hover in the mid-space between an airship and a satellite.
solutions and deliver high added-value to
Another field where we are pushing the innovation button is in our customers, explains Jean-Loïc Galle
Additive Manufacturing, or 3D printing, which is set to open a Thales Alenia Space CEO.
whole new chapter in spacecraft design. We are already flying Innovation is a state of mind, and should
printed parts, with significant gain in mass, cycle and costs. We
catalyze all of our activities.
have also contributed to the 3D printer aboard the International

T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 3
1

HTS Next Generation

Faster, lighter and even more cost effective

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T
he next generation of High Throughput Satellites (HTS NG)
are an understandably hot topic for the satellite industry
at the moment. Thales Alenia Space is leading the field,
supplying several HTS NG stamped programs such as
Brazil’s communications satellite, SGDC, Yamal 601 for
Russia’s Gazprom Space Systems and Eutelsat’s next step in its broadband
strategy for Africa, a new-generation High Throughput Satellite and
the first to use Thales Alenia Space’s new Spacebus Neo platform. This
latest generation of HTS achieves an even greater capacity than its
predecessor, the first generation of High Throughput Satellites, which was
providing from a few tenths of Gbps to a hundred or so Gbps for the most
expensive and heavy-to-launch systems. The new generation is already
achieving more than that, which means we can either significantly reduce
the price of the overall system for a given capacity, or provide even
higher capacity systems benefiting from state-of-the art next generation
platforms, payloads and ground products, and reaching to the Tbps
satellite.

Thales Alenia Space’s new generation

of HTS offer unprecedented operational
flexibility and can provide solutions
for a wide range of end user needs
including consumer and professional High Throughput
Satellite for African
data, maritime and aeronautic broadband

communications, civilian and military,

all relying on cyber-secured
transmissions.
The satellites are also versatile in terms of the range of mission
profiles they can offer, from National level, such as reducing
the digital divide, to Regional and Global level, dealing
with the challenge of addressing significant data-rates
whilst covering the whole visible Earth. The next generation
of High Throughput Satellites also respond to the specific
needs of our customers very different underlying business
models. In each case, HTS NG offers unrivaled solutions to
reduce cost per Mbps, down to €1M/Mbps, for the most
efficient Systems. In addition, since the filling ratio and ramp
up time of such Systems are key drivers, the flexible capacity
allocation is a mandatory feature which HTS NG offer.
Thales Alenia Space has solutions which perfectly match
this cost-effectiveness and the need for flexibility whilst
SGDC
strengthening the sustainability of broadband market growth. Brazil’s Defense
and Stategic
The new generation of High Throughput Satellites is here and Communications
Thales Alenia Space is at the heart of it. Geostationary

T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 5
F
or the Armed Forces, rapidly deploying a High Data
Rate network from scratch in theaters of operation
which are a long way from mainland headquarters
can be a challenge. The most efficient way of doing
it is with satellites.
Military Satellite Communications allow secure and robust links
between both places or between different theaters, no matter
how far apart they may be, making them the most advantageous
communication means for the Armed Forces. At the end of
2015, the French defense procurement agency DGA (Direction
Générale de l’Armement) part of the Defense Ministry, selected
a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space (65%) and Airbus
Defense and Space (35%) to build and deliver the military satellite
communications system, Comsat NG. As Prime Contractor,
Thales Alenia Space will be in charge of relations with the
Ministry of Defense.
The new Comsat NG satellites will meet growing demand
for data capacity, driven in large part by the increased use of
video transmissions. They will also address the requirement for
increasingly stringent data security as well as robustness and,
of course, the need for permanent interoperability with NATO
forces. The Comsat NG contract covers the construction and
launch of two military communications satellites for the French
Armed Forces, to replace the Syracuse 3A and Syracuse 3B
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satellites, launched in 2005 and 2006. These new satellites will
enter service in 2021 and will give France a higher performance
system featuring new services. Offering a design life of 15 years,
the two satellites will have identical X and Ka-band payloads, built
by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor. The Comsat NG
satellites will feature unrivaled resistance to even the most extreme
jamming methods, thanks to state-of-the-art equipment, including
an active anti-jamming antenna and a digital onboard processor.
This program is yet another success for Thales Alenia Space
fully electric Spacebus Neo platform. The contract includes an
extensive ground segment, as well as construction of the ground
control and mission facilities, mainly calling on Thales Alenia
Space’s SpaceOps solutions. It will also include the refurbishment
of ground stations in France and operating and maintenance
support for a period of 17 years.
The Comsat NG satellites will extend
and enhance the mission presently
covered by a group of satellites which
Thales Alenia Space designed and
developed, namely Syracuse 3A,
Syracuse 3B, Athena-Fidus
and Sicral 2.
 COMSAT NG
French military renews
satellite communications
led by Thales Alenia Space

T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 7
 CONSTELLATIONS
Combining Innovation and Heritage

IRIDIUM NEXT
66 SATELLITES
ORBIT 780 KM

O3b
20 SATELLITES
ORBIT 8069 KM
GLOBALSTAR 2
24 SATELLITES
ORBIT 1414 KM

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 O3b
O3b Networks has chosen Thales Alenia Space to deliver eight more
satellites for their Medium Earth Orbit constellation. These satellites
are in addition to the twelve already delivered by Thales Alenia
Space and operational in orbit. The additional satellites will expand
the present constellation which has been fully operational since
September 2014.
These eight new generation satellites will be based on the existing
design but with increased performance and new capabilities that
will enhance O3b’s offering in the market. The new satellites will be
launched and integrated into the existing constellation beginning in
early 2018.
Positioned at an altitude of 8,000 km, which is four times closer to
the earth than geostationary satellites, these Ka-band satellites
are offering high speed, low cost, low-latency Internet and
telecommunications services to people and businesses in emerging
markets. By increasing the size of the constellation from twelve to
twenty satellites, O3b Networks will offer enhanced coverage while
providing greater service availability and reliability to its existing
market segments.

Iridium NEXT
Things are moving fast to prepare mobile satellite services provider
Iridium Communications’ follow up generation of satellites, Iridium Next,
for their inaugural launch.
Thales Alenia Space is building all 81 satellites in the constellation as
Prime Contractor leading the industrial consortium of 30 companies
worldwide, with Virginia-based Orbital ATK performing assembly,
integration and tests at their plant in Arizona.
The satellite qualification review was completed in December 2015,
followed by the Operations Readiness Review in January 2016. The
end-to-end system validation was accepted in February 2016, in its
first-launch version.
The Pre-Shipment Review of the 2 first satellites was held early March.
Completion of activities and flight-readiness is expected end of March.
Preparations are continuing apace and the Satellite Manufacturing
Facility is a hive of activity, with over 10 spacecrafts in different stages
of production.

T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 9
Thales Alenia Space’s
technology and know-how
is about to head to the
Red Planet in the shape of
ExoMars, Europe and Russia’s
exploration probe, scheduled to
launch in March 2016.

With the purpose of discovering whether there

is life on Mars, ExoMars is the next step in a global
roadmap of Mars exploration that will eventually
lead to humans travelling to the Red planet.
This mission for the European Space Agency and
the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will study the
Martian environment, atmosphere and soil, gathering
data to feed scientists’ research for many years
to come. This initial venture will involve a satellite
going to the Red Planet to study trace gases in the
atmosphere, such as methane.

ExoMars 2016
The ExoMars 2016 mission comprises the Trace
Gas Orbiter and an Entry, Descent and Landing
Demonstrator module called Schiaparelli, which
are scheduled to be launched on a four-stage
Proton-M/Breeze-M rocket from Baikonur between
the 14th and 25th March 2016. About ten-and-a-
half hours after launch, the spacecraft will separate
from the rocket and deploy its solar wings. Two
weeks later, its high-gain antenna will be deployed.
After a seven-month cruise to Mars, Schiaparelli will
separate from the TGO on 16 October and three
days later it will enter the Martian atmosphere,
while the TGO begins its entry into Mars’s orbit.
The orbiter will also drop a probe on to the surface to
test technologies needed for the landing of the rover
in the Second Mission.

An unprecedented
technological challenge
As Prime Contractor, Thales Alenia Space is leading
the industrial team for the whole programme. For
the 2016 mission, we are in charge of the complete
design, development, integration, testing and
preparation for launch of the EDM and TGO
modules. For the Second Mission, Thales Alenia
Space is in charge of the overall system design,
developing the navigation and guidance system
for the orbiter and descent modules, designing the
Rover’s system, and building the analysis lab to be
integrated on the rover. This lab is equipped with
a drill capable of digging into the Martian soil to
a depth of two meters and gathering samples for
analysis. It is estimated that the first human missions
could be between 2030 and 2040. But first, let’s look
forward to our first landing, the ExoMars mission.

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 COUNTDOWN TO EXOMARS LAUNCH
ON MARCH 14, 2016

T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 11
EXOMARS
Entry, Descent and Landing
Demonstration Module

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T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 13
MONITORING CLIMATE CHANGE
FROM SPACE
E
arth’s climate is complex and to
understand how it is evolving,
scientists require data from
a wide range of variables,
measured consistently over a
long period of time. An efficient way to
do this is from space. In fact, half of the
fifty Essential Climate Variables (ECV) of
the Global Climate Observing System
(GCOS) come from satellites. These
reliable measurements allow the experts
to model a range of elements such as the
interactions between the oceans, the
composition of the atmosphere and land
cover.
Starting with the Meteosat family over
forty years ago Thales Alenia Space
has been one of Europe’s principal
suppliers of all types of optical and
radar observation satellites monitoring
the different mechanisms which affect
climate. Data from these systems are not
only crucial for understanding climate
change,” points out Jean Jacques Juillet,
Director ESA Programs from Thales
Alenia Space. “In addition to helping our
everyday weather forecasts, data from
the Meteosat spacecraft is also essential
for anticipating violent meteorological
phenomena such as hurricanes, storms
and floods.” Recent examples at the heart
of Thales Alenia Space’s expertise include
the weather satellite, MSG-4, which was
launched in 2015, as well as the Low Earth
Orbit satellite Jason-3, which was orbited
in January 2016, carrying its Poseidon
altimeter for measuring the height of the
14
oceans within an accuracy of a centimeter.
Built for the European and French Space
Agencies, with NASA partnering on Jason,
these spacecrafts will be operated by
the European organization that manages
weather satellites, Eumetsat. Other
satellites from Thales Alenia Space include
ESA’s Sentinels. Sentinel 1A was the first
to be launched two years ago, as part of
Europe’s Copernicus program. Sentinel-
3A for oceanography and land monitoring
was launched in February 2016, and
Sentinel 1B will head to space later this
year with its radar SAR for providing many
applications on changes to the oceans and
forests.
MSG-4 & MTG
Jason-3 & Sentinel-3
“The MSG-4 program will provide a
leap in technology, enabling weather
forecasters to improve the reliability of
their short term predictions,” says Jean-
Jacques Juillet. “And our next generation,
MTG, will go even further, carrying a tool
to analyse the gasses that make up our
atmosphere.” The Jason-3 satellite is on
the same orbit as Jason-2, allowing virtual
coverage of all the ice-free oceans. Thanks
to its precise measurements, the Jason
program has helped scientists understand
rising sea levels due to global warming,
as well as the large, slow current called
the Thermohaline Circulation, the great
conveyor belt of the oceans and the
engine of our planet’s climate. Jason-1
launched in 2001, exceeding its three-
year life. Its brother, Jason-2 took off in
2008 and is still operational. Sentinel-3,
the oceanography and land sentinel of
Climate Change & SatelliteS
the European Commission Copernicus
program, is an integral part of Europe’s
overall environmental policy, ensuring
the operational continuity of data from
Envisat, while improving performance and
availability. It observes the ocean currents
and surface temperature, as well as marine
life and coastal areas, helping to monitor
pollution.
Thales Alenia Space
works closely with
climate scientists
A range of experts from different fields
process the measurements from space and
use the data and algorithms to interpret
the information. In order to capitalize on
the use of space for understanding climate
change, Thales Alenia Space has decided
to work closely with scientists and the
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climate et
de l’Environnement in Saclay, Paris, in the
frame of an industrial Chair. The aim is to
better understand the value of satellites
in monitoring anthropogenic CO2
emissions as well as improving transport
models and radiative transfers. “This work
has highlighted to us just how important
satellites are in monitoring greenhouse
gasses – and how vital it is for Europeans
to have their own satellite systems,”
points out Claire Anne Reix, Copernicus
Director for Thales Alenia Space. “If
Europe wants a real negotiating position
on international treaties, it needs to be in
control of monitoring its own emissions and
those of others globally.” With our focus
on innovation and our long experience
in building Earth Observation satellites,
Thales Alenia Space is proud to assist in
developing solutions to help understand
Earth’s changing climate, and provide
decision makers with the irrefutable
information they need to make informed
judgements in the quest to protect our
planet.
T H A L E S  A L E N I A   S PAC E
 Climate Change
& SatelliteS
Knowledge for action
Managing our planet today requires timely
and reliable access to information such
as only satellites can provide

Scan the flash code in order

to access to the book
CLIMATE CHANGE & SATELLITES
©ESA
AIT SNAPSHOTS
Koreasat-5A

Inmarsat S-Europasat /
Hellas-Sat 3

Brazilian Minister of Communications

visits Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space was honored to welcome a delegation
from Brazil in February, headed by André Figueiredo,
Minister of Communications, and including Jorge Bittar
and Paulo Kapp, the Chairman and Chief Technology
Officer (CTO) of Telebras, respectively.

Telkom-3S

16 T H A L E S  A L E N I A   S PAC E
 Sentinel-1B Cygnus

T H A L E S A L E N I A  S PAC E 17
O3b Networks has chosen Thales Alenia Space
to build 8 more satellites to grow their existing
O3b CONSTELLATION.

Steve Collar, CEO of O3b Networks

“We are pleased to continue our successful partnership with

Thales Alenia Space. The reaction we have seen from the market
in little over a year has been spectacular and we can’t wait to get
the additional capacity and capability that these new satellites will
provide into the hands of our customers.”

We bring a new dimension to your horizons

Eutelsat has chosen Thales Alenia Space’s
new-generation electrical HTS satellite, SPACEBUS NEO,
to expand its broadband offering in Africa.

Michel de Rosen, Chairman of Eutelsat

“With the Spacebus Neo platform proposed by Thales Alenia Space

we are pushing back new boundaries in High Throughput Satellites
in order to deliver quality and affordable broadband services in
the many countries in Africa where increasing Internet penetration
is a key priority.”
WE BRING A NEW DIMENSION
TO YOUR HORIZONS

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