Telesat announced today that, following a highly rigorous process involving leading satellite manufacturing companies, it has entered into a contract with the consortium of Thales Alenia Space and Maxar Technologies, the owner of SSL, to further develop system designs for Telesat’s LEO constellation.
The Thales Alenia Space-Maxar consortium, working in close cooperation with Telesat, submitted a highly innovative approach for maximizing the performance and service capabilities of Telesat’s LEO constellation architecture. Thales Alenia Space and Maxar have collaborated on major satellite programs around the world and each brings a broad range of technical skills and experience along with a strong belief in the project and a commitment to its success.
Over the coming months, Thales Alenia Space-Maxar will complete their preliminary design, address key hardware and software development items, and perform a series of technical reviews leading to a firm proposal for manufacture and launch of Telesat’s LEO satellites and deployment of the ground system infrastructure. Telesat anticipates deciding by mid-2019 on a prime contractor for Telesat’s LEO program – space segment, ground segment and system integration.
Telesat’s state-of-the-art LEO constellation will transform global communications by offering an unsurpassed combination of capacity, speed, security, resiliency and low cost with latency that is as good or better than the most advanced terrestrial networks. It will serve the entire globe and become a core component in satisfying many of the world’s most challenging communications requirements. Telesat LEO will accelerate 5G expansion, end the digital divide with fiber-like high speed services into rural and remote communities and set new levels of performance for commercial and government broadband on land, sea and in the air.
“We are very pleased that we have now signed the outstanding team of Thales Alenia Space-Maxar who will further develop their design and submit a final proposal in early 2019 for Telesat’s full LEO system, both space and ground segment,” said Erwin Hudson, Vice President Telesat LEO. “Combining Telesat’s proprietary LEO architecture with our global spectrum rights creates a tremendous opportunity for Telesat’s LEO system to truly transform global communications. Telesat looks forward to this next phase of the program and to selecting a prime contractor to build and deploy our LEO space and ground infrastructure.”
About Telesat (www.telesat.com)
Telesat is a leading global satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecom, corporate and government customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices and facilities around the world, the company’s state-of-the-art fleet consists of 16 GEO satellites, the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1 and one Phase 1 LEO satellite which is the start of Telesat’s planned global LEO satellite constellation that will offer low latency, high throughput broadband services. An additional GEO satellite is scheduled for launch in August 2018. Telesat is also a leading technical consultant providing high value expertise and support to satellite operators, insurers and other industry participants on a global basis. Privately held, Telesat’s principal shareholders are Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).
