Tag Archives: Airbus

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the appointment of two new Directors by its 22 Member States at its council meeting. As a result, Laurent Jaffart will become the next Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, and Marco Ferrazzani will become the next Director of Internal Services.

Full production has begun on the six Galileo Second Generation (G2) satellites at Airbus’ site in Friedrichshafen, Germany, with the arrival of the first satellite Flight Model structure from Beyond Gravity in Zurich. After initial preparation, the panels will travel to other Airbus sites before final integration and testing at Friedrichshafen. Furthermore, the Galileo G2 satellites are scheduled for launch in the coming years to support the initial deployment and validation of the G2 System.

Airbus’ patented Detumbler device launched on Saturday, 11 November and will undergo tests in space on the mission in association with Exotrail and EnduroSat early in 2024. Airbus developed the Detumbler in 2021, with support from the French Space Agency CNES under their Tech4SpaceCare initiative.

The European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus Defense and Space, and Voyager Space have signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the ESA Space Summit in Seville, outlining their collaboration for the Starlab space station in the post-International Space Station era. The MoU outlines that the parties intend to foster science and technology development and explore the potential for collaboration in conjunction with post-International Space Station low-Earth orbit (LEO) destinations.

mu Space, a satellite manufacturer from Southeast Asia, is looking to create a space supply chain for its region. The company's goal is to launch Southeast Asia into a global competitor in the aerospace industry. mu Space believes that by building a space supply chain, companies will have a greater chance in utilising technologies and furthermore innovating them for the future.

The Airbus-built THEOS-2 Earth observation satellite has been successfully launched on a Vega rocket from Kourou, Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand (GISTDA) selected Airbus as a partner for its next-generation national geo-information system in 2018.

TESAT has signed a contract with Airbus to supply newly designed Quad Microwave Power Modules (Quad-MPM) for OneSat. This agreement follows from the European Space Agency (ESA) and TESAT's development program to improve the functionalities and design of MPMs. This consequently laid the foundation for the final design and qualification process for the Quad-MPM.

Xenesis, a laser optical communications company, have signed an exclusive agreement with Airbus to provide services from the International Space Station (ISS). Xenesis is preparing to install an optical communications hub to increase data downlink capacity on the Bartolomeo Platform, launched in 2020. In addition, the company plans to ship the Xen-Hub optical flight terminal to Airbus for a Q1 2025 launch on an ISS commercial resupply mission. After installation and testing, Xenesis will begin providing communications services to Bartolomeo customers in the summer of 2025.

During the World Satellite Business Week 2023 in Paris, players in the Earth Observation (EO) sector gathered together to look to the future. The “Leading EO Businesses Sharing Strategic Views” panel brought forth Brian O’Toole, CEO of Blacksky, Dr. Minda Suchan, VP of Geointelligence at MDA, Eric Even, Head of Sales at Airbus, Jon Love, VP at Maxar, Massimiliano Vitale, SVP Operations at Planet, and Paolo Minciacchi, CEO of e-GEOS to discuss their positioning within in the EOs sector, and how they are approaching various markets.

Intelsat, operator of one of the integrated satellite and terrestrial networks and provider of inflight connectivity (IFC), have announced that its multi-orbit network offerings, relying on LEO and GEO satellites, will be available to airlines and aircraft lessors through Airbus’ Airspace Link (HBCplus) solution.