Thales Alenia Space has been awarded an estimated $500 million contract to produce additional environmental monitoring and oceanographic satellites for the European Space Agency’s Earth observation program. The company will design, develop and test the Sentinel-3C and Sentinel-3D satellites under ESA’s Copernicus program headed by the European Commission, Thales Alenia Space said Feb. 9. Jean Loic […] More

Eduardo Bellido, formerly director at Munich-based OHB System, has joined Thales Alenia Space Espana to replace Juan Garces de Marcilla as chief executive officer. He brings nearly two decades of experience in the aerospace sector to the Spanish subsidiary of Thales Alenia Space and will oversee the company’s strategic initiatives, industrial, finance and corporate development operations, Thales said […] More

Thales Alenia Space, the space systems division of Thales Group, has won a contract to build a telecommunications satellite for Russian operator Gazprom Space Systems. Construction of the Yamal-601 could take 26 months and the satellite will be launched by the International Launch Service aboard a Proton rocket, Thales announced Wednesday. Under the contract, Thales will be […] More

SpaceX will use its Falcon 9 rocket to launch up to five of the six ground spare satellites of Iridium Communications in mid-2023 as part of the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation. The Iridium-9 mission will take off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and will serve as the company’s second rideshare with SpaceX, Iridium […] More

Microsoft Azure has announced several partnerships made to support the platform’s use for artificial intelligence and connectivity applications in space. Tom Keane, corporate vice president for mission engineering at Microsoft Azure, wrote in a blog post published Monday that the company partnered with NASA and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to test how AI can support astronaut […] More

France- and Italy-based businesses of Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales and Leonardo, have landed spots on a potential $6 billion NASA contract vehicle covering spacecraft systems and support services through an on-ramp solicitation process. The agency issued the first RAPID IV on-ramp award nearly eight months after its original selection of five aerospace companies to participate in the program.

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Exolaunch has agreed to manage and launch two Omnispace-made satellites designed to provide mobile communications. Omnispace said Tuesday its satellites will fly alongside Thales Alenia Space spacecraft in rideshare missions led by SpaceX.

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Iridium Communications’ final and eighth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard SpaceX’s previously flown Falcon 9 rocket. Iridium said Friday the satellites, which were fielded to orbital plane three, established communications with its satellite network operations facility after launch and are set to enter the first on-orbit testing phase.

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected Thales to build a facility at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for receiving and processing distress beacon signals from Global Navigation Satellite System satellites. Thales said Monday it will establish the Southwest USA Medium-Earth Orbit Local User Terminal to support NOAA’s Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking […] More

Maxar Technologies‘ SSL subsidiary and Thales Alenia Space have forged an alliance with the goal to build a fleet of low-Earth orbit satellites and an end-to-end system for Telesat. The partnership’s offering will include designing satellites, gateways, user terminals, operations centers and ground network, Maxar said Monday. Telesat aims to build a satellite constellation to deliver communications services intended […] More

An Orbital ATK spacecraft took off Monday aboard the company’s Antares rocket to deliver approximately 7,400 pounds of experiments and crew supplies to the International Space Station. The launch of the Orbital ATK-built Cygnus spacecraft designated S.S. J.R. Thompson from NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia serves as the company’s ninth cargo delivery mission to the orbiting laboratory under the […] More

An updated configuration of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to bring into orbit Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite, Spaceflight Now reported Friday. The first-stage booster of the rocket’s Block 5 version landed on SpaceX’s drone ship approximately 400 miles east of Cape Canaveral after […] More