Mary-Louise Hoffman
A joint venture of Thales Group and Finmeccanica has secured a contract to design and develop a satellite platform that will work to deliver mobile and broadcasting services across multiple spectrum networks.
Thales Alenia Space will build a dual-mission telecommunications satellite for Inmarsat and Greek satcom operator Hellas-Sat, Thales Group said Thursday.
Under the agreement, Thales Alenia Space will also oversee the launch, early operations and orbital testing of the joint Inmarsat/Hellas-Sat platform.
“This will be the 79th Spacebus satellite made by Thales Alenia Space and the fourth telecommunications satellite contract announced by the company since the beginning of the year,” said Jean Loic Galle, Thales Alenia Space’s chief executive.
“The culmination of this development agreement for a shared satellite is the result of many months of fruitful joint work by Thales Alenia Space, Inmarsat and Hellas-Sat to determine the best technical and business oriented solution for these two missions,” Galle added.
Inmarsat seeks to offer S and Ka-band mobile connectivity for aviation, public safety and disaster relief organizations via the satcom technology.
Hellas-Sat aims for the platform to help the company provide direct-to-home services using Ku and Ka-band frequencies.
The Inmarsat S/Hellas-Sat satellite will be designed to generate up to 12.3 kilowatts of payload power and be deployed to 39 degrees eastern position, according to Thales Group.
