ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) has been fueled and “topped off”

The loading of IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle)’s hydrazine maneuvering propellant was performed inside the S5B hall at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Credit: Arianespace, ESA

ESA’s IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) has been “topped off” at the Spaceport in French Guiana as preparations continue for its launch with Vega’s year-opening mission on February 11.

Loading of IXV’s hydrazine maneuvering propellant was performed in the S5B hall of the Spaceport’s large S5 payload preparation facility.

Thales Alenia Space engineers working on the IXV.

Credit: Thales Alenia Space, ESA

IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by Thales Alenia Space, and is designed to flight test technologies and critical systems for Europe’s future automated reentry systems as they return from low Earth orbit.

Artist impression of ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV).

Credit: ESA

The unmanned IXV is to be deployed into a suborbital trajectory by Vega at a 320-km. altitude.

After IXV coasts up to an altitude of 420 km., it will begin the reentry phase, recording data from a large number of conventional and advanced sensors.

The IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle is being prepared for launch at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Credit: ESA

The entry speed of 7.5 km. per second creates the same conditions as those for a vehicle returning from low Earth orbit, with IXV subsequently descending via parachutes for a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean approximately 100 minutes after liftoff.

Vega’s February 11 mission will mark the lightweight launcher’s second flight within the European Space Agency-managed VERTA (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment) program to showcase this vehicle's flexibility.

The industrial prime contractor for Vega is ELV S.p.A., a company created by Avio and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in December 2000.

Engineers forging ahead with the final tests on ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, IXV.

Credit: ESA

The IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) is being prepared for launch at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

IXV will be launched 320 km into space on top of a Vega  rocket, climbing up to 420 km before beginning a long glide back through the atmosphere.

In the process, IXV will gather data on reentry conditions to help guide the design of future spaceplanes. 

ESA's Partner Arianespace Claims 60% of the Commercial Launch Market

European commercial launch provider Arianespace has announced that it has signed four new commercial launch contracts.

This marks an impressive 11 launch contracts signed so far this year for the company, with two current contracts under negotiation to be completed by the year’s end.

According to the company, these four contracts bring Arianespace’s total launch backlog to 38 satellite launches for 29 different customers.

The value of these combined orders exceeds $5.82 billion. The company claims to now hold 60% of commercial launch market.

JCSAT-1

All four launches satellites are between 3,300 and 3,500kg and will be launched by an Ariane 5 rocket with other, heavier satellites, whose launches are already on the books.

The Ariane 5 is capable of delivering 10,000kg of payload to geosynchronous transfer orbit, over twice as much as its competitor SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

This ability to lift two larger satellites at once helps the company stay competitive with other providers.

“Dual manifesting allows Arianespace to be very competitive on price,” a company spokesperson told me. “It is part of our business model.”

SSL's Optus 10 satellite being prepped for launch at Arianespace’s launch center. 

Credit: Arianespace

In 2016, Arianespace will be launching communications satellite JCSAT-1 for its customer SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.

The satellite will be used to broadcast TV signals for its customers.

This will be the 29th satellite that Arianespace has launched for SKY Perfect since 1989.

KTSat's Koreasat 7

For Korean satellite communications provider, KTSat, Arianespace will be launching Koreasat 7.

This satellite, to be launched in 2016, will provide communications services to customers in Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and India.

This will mark the third KTSat launch performed by Arianespace.



Thales Alenia Space will build Koreasat-5 and Koreasat 7.

Avanti Communications Hylas 4

In 2017, Arianespace will be launching the telecommunications satellite Hylas 4 on behalf of its customer, the London-based Avanti Communications.

Hylas 4 will be built by Orbital Sciences and will provide TV and data services to Africa, Europe and Latin America.

During the third quarter of 2016, Arianespace will launch IntelSat 36 on behalf of telecoms service provider Intelsat.

This will be the 55th satellite that Arianespace has launched for Intelsat.

The satellite will deliver data services to customers in Asia and Africa.

An Arianespace Soyuz rocket lifting off. 

Credit: Arianespace

“We are very honoured by our customers’ renewed confidence, as well as the new customers we have added to our clientele,” Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël said in a statement.

“The eleven contracts signed so far this year, and the two exclusive negotiations under way, clearly demonstrate the pertinence of Arianespace’s product offering, which strikes an optimum balance between reliability, availability and cost.”

Arianespace has had 256 successful launches since it was founded in 1980.

Its next launch is scheduled for September 11, where it will be taking two telecommunications satellites into orbit.

ESA Euclid mission will study Dark Energy

An artist's concept of the ESA's Euclid misssion to study dark energy.

Credit: ESA/C. Carreau

Euclid is an ESA mission to map the geometry of the dark Universe.

The Euclid mission will investigate the distance-redshift relationship and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and redshifts of galaxies and clusters of galaxies out to redshifts ~2, or equivalently to a look-back time of 10 billion years.

To accomplish the Euclid mission ESA has selected Thales Alenia Space (see also the ESA press release) for the construction of the satellite and its Service Module and Airbus Defence and Space (EADS ex-Astrium) for the Payload Module.

Euclid will be equipped with a 1.2 m diameter Silicon Carbide (SiC) mirror telescope made by EADS feeding 2 instruments, VIS and NISP, built by the Euclid Consortium :

• a high quality panoramic visible imager (VIS), 
• a near infrared 3-filter (Y, J and H) photometer (NISP-P) and 
• a slitless spectrograph (NISP-S). 

With these instruments physicists will probe the expansion history of the Universe and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring the modification of shapes of galaxies induced by gravitational lensing effects of dark matter and the 3-dimension distribution of structures from spectroscopic red­shifts of galaxies and clusters of galaxies.

The satellite will be launched by a Soyuz ST-2.1B rocket and then travel to the L2 Sun-Earth Lagrangian point for a 6 years mission.

Members of the Euclid Consortium at the Euclid Meeting in Leiden.

Credit: ESA

In this way, Euclid will cover the entire period over which dark energy played a significant role in accelerating the expansion.

NASA will also participate in the ESA's Euclid mission in conjunction with it's own WFIRST-AFTA mission, searching for Dark Energy.

Last year, NASA nominated 40 American scientists to join the 14 American scientists already part of the international Euclid Consortium, the team responsible for the science, data production and instruments for the mission. NASA will also provide 16 infrared detectors for the telescope.

Euclid's goal is to understand the nature of dark energy and its role in the expansion of the universe. To do so, it plans to use two complimentary probes to study the phenomenon. The first probe will study weak gravitational lensing, while the second will examine BAOs.

Orbiting at the second Lagrangian point, Euclid will use two instruments to study a wide region of the sky free from the contaminating light from the solar system and the galaxy. It will also observe two "Euclid Deep Fields" of the early universe.

Of the approximately 10 billion sources Euclid intends to observe, more than 1 billion will be studied for weak lensing, while tens of millions of galaxies will be measured for clustering caused by BAOs.

"WFIRST-AFTA and Euclid will make complimentary observations, with WFIRST-AFTA observing fainter galaxies and Euclid observing more sky," Nasa project manager Gehrels said.

"The combined data set will be much larger and more accurate than any other BAO measurement."

When combined with ground-based observations over a variety of wavelengths, the new observations that WFIRST-AFTA and Euclid provide, should bring significant insights into dark energy and the expansion of the universe.

"The best constraints on dark energy in the 2020s will come from a combination of Euclid, WFIRST and ground-based data," WFIRST project manager Rhodes said.

Sentinel-1A satellite has unfolded its antenna after successful launch

The new large antenna (12.3m x 0.9m) of the environmental satellite Sentinel-1A´s radar instrument, developed by Airbus Defence and Space (EADS), has successfully unfolded and locked in place in the early hours of this morning (04 April 2014).

Sentinel-1A, built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by Thales Alenia Space Italy as prime contractor, is the first in a series of Earth observation satellites specially developed and built for the European ‘Copernicus’ environment and security programme.

At 23:02 CEST last night, the satellite was successfully launched on board a Soyuz launcher from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

“This successful start of the Sentinel-1A mission, and thus the Copernicus programme, marks a new era in Earth observation."

"With the satellite’s powerful radar instrument- the heart of the mission- and its ‘all-weather’ and ‘round-the-clock’ capabilities, Airbus Defence and Space (EADS) is making a decisive contribution to even more effective operational Earth observation that will benefit humans and nature more than ever,” says François Auque, Head of Space Systems.

“The instrument will also deliver unprecedented data to scientists."

After a flight time of only around 25 minutes, the satellite was accurately placed into its designated orbit. Initial communications with the ground showed that the system is working as planned.

Airbus Defence and Space (EADS) engineers supported European Space Agency (ESA) technicians who worked through the night at the satellite control centre in Darmstadt to unfold and lock the solar panels and the five-part, 12.3-metre-long radar antenna in several stages and with that, the Sentinel-1A satellite has passed its critical initial phase with flying colours.

All subsystems will be systematically checked over the coming days, and the radar instrument is due to be switched on in space for the first time in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The radar instrument will be thoroughly calibrated during a commissioning phase lasting approximately three months, after which routine operation can begin.

The planned mission duration is seven years but the spacecraft has resources for a total of 12 years.

ESA IXV during integration at Thales Alenia Space

The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) flight model during integration at Thales Alenia Space, Torino, Italy, on 12 February 2014.

It will be launched by ESA in 2014 on Vega, Europe’s new small launcher, into a suborbital path. 

It will reenter the atmosphere as if from a low-orbit mission, testing new European reentry technologies during its hypersonic and supersonic flight phases. 

Credits: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014

ESA PLATO: 34 European space telescopes will investigate one million stars

This is what the planet-hunter PLATO could look like. 

The image shows a concept presented by Thales Alenia Space. 

Credit: ESA

The exploration of planets around stars other than the Sun, known as extrasolar planets or 'exoplanets', is one of the most exciting topics of 21st century science.

One of the key goals of this research is to discover and learn the properties of Earth-like worlds in the Sun's neighbourhood.

ESA, the European Space Agency, will do this in preparing a new space mission named PLATO.

The mission's launch is scheduled for 2024, and firm discoveries of Earth-like planets at Earth-like distances from stars similar to our Sun will be produced after three years of observational data have been collected.

ESA's Science Programme Committee voted for PLATO at its regular meeting in Paris on 19th and 20th February, 2014, where it was one of five proposed space projects for a so-called "M" mission.

Not a single Earth-like exoplanet in a habitable zone around a star similar to our Sun has been found and characterized yet. PLATO will be a pioneer in finding new worlds for humanity to explore.

The PLATO Science consortium is led by Don Pollacco from the University of Warwick who comments

"This is fantastic news for Europe, PLATO will allow the first systematic survey of nearby planets for indications from advanced life forms (as well as slime)."

"A few years ago this would have been science fiction and now its coming to pass as science fact."

The UK also has major roles in the instrument itself supplying the CCD sensors (e2V Technology and UCL), much of the image processing software (Cambridge) and Public Outreach (Open University).

Heike Rauer

The PLATO mission itself is led by Dr Heike Rauer at DLR, the German Aerospace Center. "PLATO will begin a completely new chapter in the exploration of extrasolar Planets" Dr Rauer confidently predicts.

"We will find planets that orbit their star in the life-sustaining 'habitable' zone: planets where liquid water is expected, and where life as we know it can be maintained." she continued.

PLATO will measure the sizes, masses, and ages of the planetary systems it finds, so detailed comparisons with our own Solar System can be made.

"In the last 20 years more than one thousand exoplanets have been discovered, with quite a few multi-planetary systems among them", Rauer explains.

"But almost all of these systems differ significantly from our Solar System in their properties, because they are the easiest-to-find examples."

"PLATO firmly will establish whether systems like our own Solar System, and planets like our own Earth are common in the Galaxy."

This is a concept image of Plato by EADS Astrium, ESA's preferred supplier for space technology. 

PLATO, is an acronym for PLanetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars.

PLATO will find planets through the periodic dimming of the detected starlight caused by a planet orbiting in front of the star, blocking PLATO's view of a fraction of the starlight.

PLATO will also measure tiny changes in detected starlight caused by small vibrations in the host stars, performing so-called astroseismology.

Just as in seismology of the Earth, these vibrations reveal the interior structure of the vibrating body. Astroseismology allows us to learn the age of the vibrating star and the planets orbiting around it.

A new type of space telescope
ESA's PLATO is a completely new type of space telescope: it will use an array of telescopes rather than a single lens or mirror.

PLATO will use top quality cameras, and will have the advantage of observing continuously from space, without the interruption of sunrise, or the blurring caused by the Earth's atmosphere.

This will allow PLATO to discover planets smaller than Earth, and planets at distances from their host stars similar to the Earth-Sun distance.

So far, only a few small exoplanets are known at star-planet distances comparable to or greater than Earth's.

Unlike previous missions, PLATO will focus on these planets, which are expected to resemble our own Solar System planets.

European Southern Observatory's European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT)

ESA will take on a leading role in the search for extrasolar planets

PLATO is a lively and vigorous European collaboration, many European research institutions and hundreds of European researchers are working together, with scientists from all over the world completing the team.

The catalogue of potentially habitable planets provided by PLATO will be the basis for follow-up measurements to confirm discoveries of new planets, using the ESO's E-ELT, or the next generation of large space telescopes, like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

With PLATO, Europe will be leading the search for habitable exoplanets.

So far only a few exoplanets have had their mass, radius and age determined precisely. This is needed to properly describe a planet.

"The observation of planets in many different states of their evolution will give us clues for the past and the future of our own planetary system", Dr Rauer remarked.

"By no means do we know all about the youth of our Solar System."

Read the full article here

Roscosmos Ostapenko calls for end to Foreign communication satellites

Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Oleg Ostapenko has sent a letter to Vice Premier Dmitry Rogozin suggesting giving up the practice of ordering civilian communication and broadcasting satellites abroad, Kommersant daily reported on Friday.

The new head of Roscosmos regards it as a form of covert subsidizing of foreign manufacturers.

As a result Europe's aerospace & defence corporation, EADS may lose part of Russian contracts and Information Satellite Systems (ISS) OJSC may become the sole supplier of civilian communication satellites, the newspaper concludes.

In this context the Roscosmos and the Federal Communication Agency will consider issues of developing delivery vehicles and guarantees of launching Express-AMU2, Express-AMU3 and Express-AMU4 satellites as they will be compiling the Federal Space Program for 2016-2025 "considering the placement of orders for the delivery of the said satellites from a sole supplier - ISS OJSC.

"However, Roscosmos does not conceal the fact that while fulfilling civilian orders ISS is forced to attract "foreign contactors."

Thus, a modification of Express-A series was developed together with Alcatel Space, while two direct broadcasting satellites Express-AT1 and Express-AT2 are being developed in partnership with the French division of Thales Alenia Space.

The newspaper adds that it follows from Ostapenko's letter that ISS has difficulties with the fulfillment of current orders.

Thus, Express-AM8 satellite can be launched in August 2014 the earliest "given delays in the delivery and repairs of onboard equipment," the letter says.

U.A.E. buys French spy satellites in $913M deal

The United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf confrontation with Iran, has bought two military surveillance satellites from France that will give the region's Arab monarchies the capability of spying on the Islamic Republic.

Under the $913.2 million Falcon Eye contract, the Emirates, a federation of seven gulf sheikhdoms, will receive a brace of Helios high-resolution satellites to be built by Astrium, the space division of the European aerospace defense giant European Aeronautics Defense and Space Co. (EADS) and Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales of France and Finmeccanica of Italy.

Under an annex agreement, French military personnel will aid Emirati technicians in interpreting images and share information delivered by the satellites, said officials who accompanied French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian for the contract signing Monday.

The Emirates spearhead efforts by the Gulf Cooperation Council -- the other members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain -- to acquire a military surveillance satellite network to bolster an early warning system they've been talking about for a decade.

But, largely due to dynastic squabbles and mistrust within the GCC alliance established at the height of the 1980-88 war Iran-Iraq War, this and other GCC military aims remain unfulfilled.

However, growing tensions with Iran could spur them to set aside their differences.

ESA: Thales Alenia Space kicks off Euclid construction

Artist’s impression of Euclid. Credit: ESA - C. Carreau

The construction of ESA's Euclid space mission to explore the 'dark Universe' will be led by Italy's Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor, beginning the full industrial phase of the project.

The announcement follows that of last month when EADS Astrium Toulouse was confirmed to build the payload module – the telescope and optical bench carrying the science instruments.

Euclid will be launched in 2020 to explore the roles played by dark energy and dark matter in the evolution of the Universe since the Big Bang and, in particular, in its present accelerating expansion.

Dark matter is invisible to normal telescopes, but acts through gravity to play a vital part in forming galaxies and slowing the expansion of the Universe.

Dark energy, on the other hand, causes a force that overcomes gravity and that is accelerating the expansion seen around us today.

Together, they are thought to comprise 95% of the total amount of mass and energy in the Universe, with 'normal' matter – from which stars, planets and we humans are made – making up the remaining small fraction. But their nature remains a profound mystery.

Alvaro Giménez Cañete

"We are pleased to confirm the prime contractor for this exciting mission. With the support of European space industry, we are a step closer to revealing the darkest secrets of the Universe," says Professor Alvaro Giménez Cañete, ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.

"This is a long-awaited milestone after the mission concept was first proposed to ESA in 2007, and we are delighted to see that the spacecraft construction can now begin," says Yannick Mellier, who leads the Euclid consortium, comprising scientists from 13 European countries and the US.

The consortium will provide Euclid's two state-of-the art scientific instruments: a visible-light camera and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer.

Together, they will map the 3D distribution of up to two billion galaxies spread over more than a third of the whole sky.

Light from the most distant galaxies streaming towards Earth is slightly bent by gravity as it interacts with matter along the way.

This is dominated by dark matter, whether associated with galaxies and galaxy clusters, or in isolation. Thus, by measuring distortions in the shapes of those background galaxies, astronomers can construct a 3D map of the dark matter in the Universe.

Furthermore, by assessing how the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters has changed over cosmic time, scientists can infer the role and evolution of dark energy from the dawn of the Universe until today.

The results will help to answer one of the most important questions in modern cosmology: why is the Universe expanding at an accelerating rate today, rather than slowing down due to the gravitational attraction of all the matter in it?

ESA ExoMars 2016 set to complete construction

ESA's mission to Mars in 2016 has entered the final stage of construction with the signature of a contract today with Thales Alenia Space at the Paris Air & Space Show.

ExoMars will fly two missions, in 2016 and 2018, in a partnership between ESA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

Its main goal is to answer one of the outstanding scientific questions of our time: has life ever existed on Mars?

In addition, ExoMars will develop new European technical capabilities in landing, roving, drilling and preparing samples to pave the way for a future Mars sample-return mission in the 2020s.

The first mission will be launched in 2016 and will include the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) to search for evidence of methane and other atmospheric gases that could be signs of active biological or geological processes.

It will also deliver the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) to the surface of Mars, to demonstrate key technologies needed for the 2018 mission and future landing missions.

The 2018 mission will land a rover on Mars – the first with the capability of drilling to depths of 2 m to collect samples that have been shielded from the harsh conditions on the surface, where radiation and oxidants can destroy organic materials.

In addition, the 2018 mission carries a Surface Platform with scientific instruments to investigate the martian environment.

The agreement, signed today in the ESA pavilion at the Paris Air & Space Show, marks a major milestone for the mission and for Thales Alenia Space, the industrial prime contractor on ExoMars.

Signature of Rider 1 to ESA Contract for Exomars. Credit: ESA

The agreement was signed by the old brigade of European Space Programs; Prof Giménez and Vincenzo Giorgio, Vice President Exploration & Science of Thales Alenia Space during a ceremony attended by the Agency's Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain.

Also attending were Maria Carrozza, the Italian Minister for Education, Universities and Research, Enrico Saggese, President of the Italian space agency, and Jean-Loïc Galle, CEO of Thales Alenia Space.

Brazil's SGDC: Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite

Boeing and Space Systems/Loral of the United States, Astrium Satellites and Thales Alenia Space of Europe and Mitsubishi Electric (Melco) of Japan all submitted separate bids for what Brazil calls SGDC - Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite.

The SGDC satellite is expected to weigh no more than 6,000 kilograms at launch and to operate at 75 degrees west in a geostationary orbit. 

It will be operated by Brazil’s Telebras national telecommunications company, with the system managed by Visiona Tecnologica Espacial SA, a joint venture created to manage the project.

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer’s Embraer Defense owns 51 percent of the Visiona joint venture, with Telebras holding the remaining 49 percent.

Brazilian authorities have assigned Embraer the task of becoming a major satellite prime contractor capable of handling future satellite projects in part as a result of a large technology-transfer package the Brazilian government has inserted into the SGDC bid request.

A second SGDC satellite is part of Brazil’s national space program, which is coordinated by the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB).

Several of the bidders are using the SGDC program to give Brazilian authorities a glimpse of what future technology-transfer agreements might look like, primarily for optical and radar Earth observation, and satellite-based weather forecasting.

If the contest for the telecommunications satellite is placed into a wider context of generalized cooperation with Brazil, the two European bidders may have an edge, they have the most experience in selling Earth observation satellites to nations demanding sizable technology transfers.

Japan’s Melco has also demonstrated its export prowess in both telecommunications and Earth observation satellites and could offer a viable alternative.

U.S. satellite industry officials have said the U.S. government has become more comfortable with the export of U.S. imaging sensors and satellites, and that government regulations are no longer a showstopper for a U.S. satellite builder.

The Latin America Aero and Defense aerospace show, held April 9-12 in Rio de Janeiro, was an occasion for several bidders to show their presence as Brazilian authorities sift through the SGDC bids.

AEB has said the SGDC satellite is budgeted at 716 million Brazilian reais ($362 million) including its launch, which will be the subject of a separate competition.

Satellite Star One C1

The Brazilian Ministry of Defense already leases X-band capacity on the commercial Star One C1 and C2 satellites operated by Brazil’s private-sector satellite operator.

Star One will cost around 23 million reais annually, according to the ministry.

The five X-band transponders to be placed on the first SGDC satellite will cover all of South America and the surrounding maritime routes.

Brazil’s Ministry of Communications leases seven Ku-band transponders on Star One satellites for about 43 million reais per year.

The ministry will use the Ka-band spot-beam capacity on the SGDC satellite to offer broadband to Brazilian villages that do not have broadband access.

Thales Alenia Space Seeks Wider Market for Iridium EliteBus Bus

EliteBus is the platform being used by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the 81-satellite Iridium Next constellation. The first two 800-kilogram Iridium Next satellites are scheduled for launch in February 2015.

Thales Alenia Space is looking for a wider market for the satellite platform it has developed for the Iridium Next low-orbiting mobile communications satellites, with the first intended customer being the French Defense Ministry for an electronics-intelligence satellite, Thales Alenia Space officials said March 20.

In a briefing here during the Satellite 2013 conference, company officials said they are making a joint proposal with (EADS) Astrium Satellites to French defense forces for the Ceres satellite, which is the only major military space program on the horizon in France.

French government authorities have yet to determine a military program law and related budget for 2014 and the following years.

 A white paper on proposed military spending priorities is expected to be released by the French administration, which arrived in office in mid-2012, in the coming weeks.

Thales Alenia Space Chief Executive Jean-Loic Galle said his company and Astrium have agreed on a division of authority under which Thales Alenia Space will provide its EliteBus, and the Ceres electronics-intelligence payload, with Astrium Satellites handling the satellite’s integration.

EliteBus is the platform being used by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the 81-satellite Iridium Next constellation. The first two 800-kilogram Iridium Next satellites are scheduled for launch in February 2015.

Galle said the Iridium production line has given the company the opportunity to offer exceptionally low prices for satellites using the same platform, or bus, but for different applications.

Ceres is one example, but there are multiple other applications in low and medium Earth orbit for the platform.

EliteBus weighs up to 435 kilograms, not including fuel, with a payload that can weigh up to 500 kilograms. There are 2 kilowatts of on-board power.

Galle said the Iridium program is going so well that the manufacturer and the US owner, Iridium Communications, have agreed to move up the inaugural launch of two satellites by about two months, to February 2015.

Cosmo-SkyMed

Thales Alenia Space, which is majority-owned by defense electronics manufacturer Thales Group of France and minority-owned by Italian aerospace giant Finmeccanica, is awaiting the Italian government’s decision on a second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed radar Earth observation satellite system.

The contract, to be valued at more than 400 million euros, had been expected in late 2012 but fell victim to the Italian elections and, more importantly, the company’s aggravated public-finance crisis.

Luigi Pasquali, Thales Alenia Space’s deputy chief executive and the head of the company’s Italian division, said the Cosmo-SkyMed contract is now expected in the coming weeks, and will be for two satellites to start.

ESA Thales: MSG-3 fuelled

In the cleanroom at Europe’s spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre, in Kourou, French Guiana, the third Meteosat Second Generation satellite undergoes further preparations for launch. MSG-3 is planned for launch in July 2012. MSG-3 is the third in a planned series of four satellites operated by Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. 

The satellites return highly detailed imagery of Europe, the North Atlantic and Africa every 15 minutes for use by meteorologists and national weather forecasters. 

Along with keeping track of cloud development and temperature to improve weather forecasting accuracy, MSG-3 has two secondary objectives in the areas of radiation and rescue. 

Shortly after liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana, MSG-3 will be injected into geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36 000 km over the equator. 

Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG - S. Martin 

Gérald and Eric from the Thales fuelling team getting ready ( ESA/C. Soulez-Lariviere)

Credit: ESA/Thales

Yesterday, the team finished loading 365 kg of liquid fuel (Monomethyl Hydrazine, MMH). This follows the earlier fuelling with liquid oxidizer (Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen, MON).

In total, the fuel has increased the mass of MSG-3 by about a ton.

MSG-3 will now be installed on the launcher adapter. On Monday, it will be moved to the Final Assembly Building, BAF, for integration on the launcher later next week.
The launcher and EchoStar 17 (co-passenger) activities are also proceeding as planned.

ESA ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi: Nasa Viseo of Launch Lift-off

The European Space Agency's third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket from the Arianespace launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, at 12:34 a.m. EDT Friday, beginning a six-day journey to the International Space Station.

The 13-ton "Edoardo Amaldi" spacecraft, named in honor of the 20th-century Italian physicist who is regarded as one of the fathers of European spaceflight, is delivering 7.2 tons of propellant, water and supplies to the six crew members aboard the orbital laboratory.

MT Aerospace to manufacture flight hardware for ESA IXV reentry vehicle

MT Aerospace received an important follow-up order to manufacture ceramic compound body flaps and heat shield components for the European IXV reentry vehicle.

After completion of the development phase and successful Critical Design Review, Thales Alenia Space Italia, as prime contractor, and the Augsburg/Germany based company signed a contract for the qualification and manufacture of the IXV vehicle's flight hardware.

IXV will be launched into space in 2014 to test reentry technologies for future space applications.

The lightweight ceramic body flaps, each with a length of 0.8 m and a weight of ca. 37 kg, as well as main components of the thermal protection system on the vehicle's leeward side have been developed in Augsburg and are fabricated of patented, high-temperature resistant fiber-reinforced ceramic composites.

These high-performance composites ensure that the components will withstand extreme temperatures of up to 1,900 degrees C and quasi-static loads of up to 5.7 g - a crucial prerequisite for the successful reentry of the IXV, during which the vehicle starts from an altitude of around 450 km and reaches a velocity of 7.5 km/s on entering earth atmosphere.

The highly complex components are going to be delivered by the second half of 2013. IXV will be launched into space on board of a Vega launcher and is intended to collect a large number of useful data at reentry. The aim is to gain valuable knowledge on reentry systems for future European space missions.

Thales Alenia Space: Building four more satellites for Google's O3b constellation

O3b Networks will supply trunking and mobile backhaul connectivity to telecom operators at speeds comparable to those offered by Fiber providers. 

By increasing the constellation from eight to twelve satellites, O3b Networks will virtually double its capacity and guarantee greater service availability and reliability.

Thales Alenia Space has announced that it had signed a contract with O3b Networks Limited to deliver four more satellites for their Medium Earth Orbit constellation.

These satellites are in addition to the eight already ordered from Thales Alenia Space.

The first group of eight satellites successfully passed their Critical Design Review in May of this year and the system is on track for an initial launch in the first quarter of 2013, with service expected to start in the second quarter of that year.

Positioned at an altitude of 8,000 km which is four times closer to the earth than geo-stationary satellites, these Ka-band satellites will offer high speed, low cost, low-latency Internet and telecommunications services to people and businesses in emerging markets.

O3b Networks will supply trunking and mobile backhaul connectivity to telecom operators at speeds comparable to those offered by Fiber providers.

By increasing the constellation from eight to twelve satellites, O3b Networks will virtually double its capacity and guarantee greater service availability and reliability.

"This latest contract for four additional satellites clearly shows Thales Alenia Space's leadership in telecom constellations," said Reynald Seznec, President and CEO of Thales Alenia Space.

"O3b can count on this platform, already proven in orbit. Our platform is perfectly suited to telecom constellations, with excellent in-orbit performance and guaranteed development.

We are honoured to have O3b's confidence in Thales Alenia Space and we are eager to contribute to their mission which will be enhanced through the delivery of these four additional satellites"

"We are very happy with Thales' progress with the O3b satellites so far and we are firmly on schedule to meet our launch dates on the first eight satellites," said Brian Holz, CTO of O3b Networks.

"The Payload and Spacecraft Critical Design Reviews were successfully completed earlier this year with higher than expected performance, allowing O3b to further improve competitiveness.

We therefore have every confidence in awarding them with the contract for our four additional satellites."

NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services: Cygnus Spacecraft delivered

NASA's partnership with industry to develop transportation to the International Space Station reached another step Aug. 23, as the cargo module for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft, which will carry supplies to the station, arrived at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled for a demonstration flight early next year on an Orbital Taurus II launch vehicle under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services agreement with the company. All photos credit: NASA/Wallops Flight Facility

Thales Alenia Space reports it has shipped its first Pressurized Cargo Module, designed to transport cargo to the International Space Station, to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The PCM, developed on behalf of Cygnus prime contractor Orbital Sciences Corporation, was carried by an Antonov An-24 cargo plane.

At Wallops, Orbital will integrate the PCM with the Service Module (including the avionics, propulsion subsystem and power supply) to produce the complete Cygnus spacecraft.

This vehicle will fly a demonstration mission in early 2012, using Orbital's Taurus II launcher, under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement.

Read more on this story from the Thales Alenia Space PCM side

Following the demonstration flight, within the scope of the CRS (Commercial Resupply Service) contract signed by Orbital and NASA, Thales Alenia Space will provide Orbital with eight more pressurized modules for cargo missions to the International Space Station, including crew supplies, spare parts and scientific experiments.

The first PCM will be followed by three more units in "standard" configuration, capable of transporting up to 2,000 kg of cargo each, along with five "enhanced" configuration units, boosting payload capacity to 2,700 kg.

The CygnusTM spacecraft comprises a Service Module (SM) built by Orbital, and a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) developed by Thales Alenia Space.

Building on 30 years of experience in space infrastructures and transportation systems, Cygnus PCM developed by Thales Alenia Space calls on the company's skills and expertise developed through previous programs for the International Space Station.

Previous Thales Alenia Space programs include; the MPLM (Multipurpose Logistics Module), built by the company on behalf of the Italian space agency for NASA, and the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) Cargo Carrier, built by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency (ESA).

Thales Alenia Space is a major contributor to the International Space Station, as a key player in the Columbus laboratory and prime contractor for Node 2, Node 3 and the Cupola.

Data Clippers Set Sail To Enhance Future Planetary Missions

Data Clippers Set Sail To Enhance Future Planetary Missions


Recent advances in technology mean that spacecraft propelled by solar sails, which use radiation pressure from photons emitted by the Sun, or electric sails, which harness the momentum of the solar wind, can now be envisaged for mid-term missions. The Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, is currently testing a solar sail mission, IKAROS. Credit: Thales Alenia Space

A new golden age of sailing may be about to begin - in space. Future missions to explore the outer planets could employ fleets of 'data-clippers', maneuverable spacecraft equipped with solar sails, to ship vast quantities of scientific data to back Earth.

According to Joel Poncy of Thales Alenia Space, the technology could be ready in time to support mid-term missions to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Poncy will be presenting an assessment of data clippers at the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome on Monday 20th September.

"Space-rated flash memories will soon be able to store the huge quantities of data needed for the global mapping of planetary bodies in high resolution. But a full high-res map of, say, Europa or Titan, would take several decades to download
from a traditional orbiter, even using very large antennae.

Downloading data is the major design driver for interplanetary missions. We think that data clippers would be a very efficient way of overcoming this bottleneck," said Poncy.

Ariane 5 Is Ready: Thales Alenia Space-produced spacecraft: NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R

The Ariane 5 for Arianespace's third mission in 2010 is ready to enter the final launch preparation phase, during which this heavy-lift vehicle will receive its dual-satellite payload.

Scheduled for liftoff from the Spaceport on August 4, this Ariane 5 ECA will carry a pair of Thales Alenia Space-produced spacecraft: NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R.

Both satellites have been undergoing processing following their June arrival in French Guiana.

The upcoming mission is designated V196, signifying the 196th launch of an Ariane family vehicle. The Ariane 5 for this flight was delivered to Arianespace earlier this month by EADS Astrium, which is the heavy-lift vehicle's industrial prime contractor.

Astrium performed the Ariane 5's build-up in the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building, and then transferred it to the Final Assembly Building, where it was received by Arianespace.

Riding as the flight's upper passenger for the August 4 mission, NILESAT 201 will be deployed first in the launch sequence - to ultimately be positioned at an orbital slot of 7 degrees West longitude.

The satellite will deliver digital Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV and radio broadcasting - along with high-speed data transmission services - to North Africa and the Middle East at the service of Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat. Utilizing a Spacebus 4000B2 platform, this relay platform is equipped with 24 Ku-band and 4 Ka-band transponders. NILESAT 201 will weigh nearly 3,200 kg. at launch.

NILESAT 201 is to be installed atop the Ariane 5 SYLDA dual-payload dispenser system, positioning it over this mission's lower passenger, RASCOM-QAF1R.