Spanish engineering and services company Tecnobit will provide interface control, power supply and radio frequency control hardware for the Hispasat AG1 satellite under a contract the company said represents its first business in the space sector some six months after a special business-development team was created to win space-industry work.
Madrid-based Tecnobit, whose parent company was founded in 1985, hopes to leverage its experience in aeronautical engineering to win a foothold in the space market.
Spanish satellite fleet operator Hispasat joined forces with the European Space Agency (ESA) to finance development of Hispasat AG1, which will demonstrate in orbit the ESA-financed Small GEO satellite platform, under construction by OHB Technology of Germany.
ESA is also financing part of the satellite’s advanced electronics payload, which includes an on-board processor with regenerative Ku-band transponders and an IP router. Thales Alenia Space España is under contract to Hispasat to build many of the payload components.
Tecnobit declined to disclose the value of the contract, but said it expects to become more active in the space market by taking advantage of ESA programs that find links between aeronautics and space applications.
