Ibadan, I August 2023. – Hisdesat, the Spanish Government satellite operator, has announced that the first satellite in the SPAINSAT NG program, SpainSat NG-I, will be ready for launch in the summer of 2024 after confirming that the program is progressing well. Space X will launch the Spanish satellite into orbit with a Falcon 9 launcher from its Cape Canaveral base or NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
An essential component that makes the satellites innovative is the active antenna system from Airbus Defence and Space. It will subsequently provide secure and reliable communications for the Spanish Armed Forces and other Government agencies. Furthermore, SPAINSAT NG’s active antennas are reconfigurable in orbit, allowing coverage and performance to be modifiable as and when the needs of the mission require.
This reconfiguration is usually done electronically, with no moving parts, through an intelligent combination of hundreds of different signals. These signals receive control from software at the ground control center to transmit and receive data at high speed.
The Ministry of Defence’s SPAINSAT NG program aims to modernize its capabilities and place it at the forefront of secure satellite communications. Furthermore, it consists of twin satellites, SpainSat NG-I and SpainSat NG-II, and aims to provide secure and reliable communications
for military operations, as well as to support humanitarian and disaster relief efforts.
The project, which results from a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Defence and Hisdesat, also enjoys funding from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and the European Space Agency (ESA). The project also enjoys financing from the Spanish Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) of the Ministry of Science and Innovation within the framework of the Pacis 3 program.
