Paris, 11 January 2021. – One and One is two: Airbus will build two OneSat satellites for Intelsat, the company announced last Friday.
Airbus signed a contract with Intelsat to build two OneSat satellites operating in multiple frequency bands for Intelsat’s next-generation software-defined network, Airbus said. The contract was signed on 31 December 2020.
The satellites will be based on Airbus’ OneSat product line, “the latest generation of fully flexible, in orbit reconfigurable, Software Defined Satellites (SDS)”, Airbus said. “OneSat is designed to deliver the optimal balance between performance, flexibility and competitive cost per bit, while maintaining Airbus’ unrivalled product reliability”.
Airbus will deliver an end-to-end fully integrated solution, including design and manufacture of the satellites. The highly capable ground segment software components, when fully integrated into Intelsat’s next-generation software defined network ecosystem and advanced digital suite will allow dynamic operation of end-to-end satellite resources.
The two next generation SD satellites will be delivered in 2023.
Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said: “Intelsat’s investment in Airbus software defined satellites marks an important first step in evolving the world’s largest, most resilient, integrated space and ground network. Intelsat’s next-generation software-defined network will be the catalyst for our growth, enabling future Gogo Commercial Aviation inflight broadband services, as well as other managed services across Intelsat’s customer segments.”
