Then there were communications: new customers and an unrivaled position in constellations
- Increased market share by winning new customers: Nilesat as prime contractor (Egypt), plus EuropaSat for Inmarsat (UK).
- Contracts signed for five geostationary satellites: W3B for Eutelsat, Koreasat 6 for Korea Telecom (in partnership with Orbital), Nilesat 201 for Nilesat, EuropaSat for Inmarsat, RascomQaf-1R for RascomStar-QAF.
- Payloads: Thales Alenia Space signed two contracts for Israeli operator Spacecom, Amos-4 with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Amos-5 in partnership with ISS-Reshetnev (formerly NPO-PM) and some others.
- Contract for the Amos-4 ground segment.
- Contract for the O3b low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation for O3b Networks, designed to provide Internet services to three billion people around the world who do not yet enjoy access.
- A major milestone with the start of assembly and testing of second-generation satellites for the Globalstar constellation and the confirmation that we are on track to meet the aggressive timetable to deploy Globalstar’s next-generation network.
- Thales Alenia Space is also one of two companies chosen to submit a proposal to Iridium for its “NEXT” constellation, confirming its unrivaled credibility in the satellite constellation market.
- Contract for the Sentinel-3 satellite in Europe’s GMES program.
- Successful launch of Jason-2 for French space agency CNES, and operational commissioning of the satellite, confirming the company’s excellence in operational oceanography.
- Start of the detailed design phase for the optical space segment in Musis (successor to Helios 2), under the auspices of CNES. Thales Alenia Space is producing the optical payload.
- Contract for the Redsat communications payload on the AG1 smallsat developed by Hispasat as part of ESA’s Artes 11 program.
- Contract with Sener to supply the electronics for the optical instrument on the Spanish satellite Ingenio, developed by ESA and CDTI.
- Operational commissioning of the COSMO-SkyMed constellation, with the launch of the third satellite in this series.
- Continued work on the Galileo program: launch of the Giove-B satellite, transfer of activities from the ESNI consortium to Thales Alenia Space, finalization of the contract for the power subsystem, and further progress on the IOV phase.
- Major role in the International Space Station: launch of the Columbus laboratory in February, the Jules Verne ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) in March, and a fourth mission for the Leonardo MPLM (Multi-purpose Pressurized Logistic Module).
- Export: Thales Alenia Space will supply the Earth observation satellite Gokturk equipped with a high-resolution optical radar sensor in the frame of the Space Alliance and as part of the global Telespazio contract.
- Five communications satellites: Star One C2, Turksat 3A, Chinasat 9, AMC-21, Ciel-2
- Two observation satellites: Jason-2, COSMO-SkyMed 3
- Navigation satellite: Giove-B
- Three International Space Station modules: ATV, Columbus, MPLM
- Two radar observation payloads: SAR-Lupe 4 & 5
- Three communications payloads: AM33, Amos-3, BADR-6