Archive for the 'Thales Alenia Space' Category
Nov 27, 2009, post by Satellite News
At a ceremony today at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Tranquillity Node was transferred from European Space Agency to NASA, bringing extra living and working space one step closer to astronauts on board the International Space Station. Tranquility Node and Cupola, developed by Thales Alenia Space, continue their path towards their planned delivery to the space station early next year.
Luigi Pasquali, President and CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italy, confirms: “It makes me very proud to be able to inform that Thales Alenia Space plays such a key international role in the ambitious Space Station project. Our company has developed more than 50 percent of the pressurized elements, the living spaces of this orbiting complex. Thales Alenia Space is proud to be one of the major international industrial players involved in the development of orbiting infrastructures and space return and transport systems.”
Along with Node 3 , the Cupola will also join the Space Station onboard Endeavour’s STS-130 Mission. Cupola, which was also developed by Thales Alenia Space, is a technological, robotized control room, which will allow the astronauts to see and work through seven windows, looking out 360 degrees around the International Space Station.
The Nodes are key elements of the International Space Station’s architecture. They enable the interconnection and management of the various pressurized modules. Two out of three were designed and built by Thales Alenia Space in Italy for the European Space Agency: Node 2 Harmony, and its twin Node 3 Tranquillity.
Node 3 will help complete and extend the Station, also providing it with far more advanced functions: water recycling and oxygen regeneration, thereby revitalizing the air and removing toxic substances, monitoring and measuring all elements. Tranquillity will house the Cupola and provide further docks for future space vehicles.
Thales Alenia Space is also in charge of the provision of the necessary support to NASA for final checks and launch preparation. These activities are set to continue throughout all stages of the next mission and are delivered by ALTEC, a company set up jointly by Thales Alenia Space, the Italian Space Agency and public entities from Italy’s Piedmont region.
In Turin, the company has also developed many important elements for the International Space Station. Apart from Node 2, Node 3 and the Cupola, Thales Alenia Space is also prime contractor for the three pressurized Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLM): Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello. The company is also one of the main developers of the scientific laboratory Columbus and of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). It is indeed thanks to these successes that Thales Alenia Space has recently been awarded an important NASA contract for Orbital Sciences, for the design and development of nine pressurized modules under the scope of the Commercial Resupply Services program.
Nov 26, 2009, post by Satellite News
Confirming its ambitions in Europe and Central Asia, Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) has unseated competitor Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy to deliver electronics payloads for two large Russian telecommunications satellites in a contract valued at more than 200 million Canadian dollars ($187 million).
The two satellites, Express-AM5 and Express-AM6, will be operated by Moscow-based Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC) and will provide a broad suite of commercial and government telecommunications services in the C-, Ku-, Ka- and L-band frequencies.
RSCC had announced in August that ISS Reshetnev of Krasnoyarsk, Russia’s biggest satellite builder, would work with its longtime partner, Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy, to build the two spacecraft, with both to be launched in 2012.
RSCC also selected the Russian Radio Research and Development Institute, NIIR, as a part of the industrial team. NIIR builds communications ground networks.
But the contract with Reshetnev and Thales Alenia Space was apparently never finalized and ISS Reshetnev announced Nov. 11 that it had signed a firm deal with RSCC for the two spacecraft.
On Nov. 20, Richmond, British Columbia-based MDA announce it had won the payload work in a contract with NIIR. The announcement said MDA’s equipment deliveries would occur in late 2011 and early 2012, but that both satellites were still scheduled for launch in 2012.
MDA officials had told investors in an Oct. 28 conference call that the company intended to expand from its current role as a telecommunications satellite equipment supplier to become a system prime contractor. The Commonwealth of Independent States that once formed the Soviet Union offered near-term opportunities, the company said. MDA continues to negotiate with Ukraine and with Canada’s export-credit agency on a contract to provide Ukraine with a national telecommunications satellite.
MDA Vice President Don Osborne, in a Nov. 20 statement, informed the RSCC work “is aligned with our market focus in the Commonwealth of Independent States region and working with NIIR, a new customer for MDA, strengthens our presence in Russia.”
A Thales Alenia Space official confirmed Nov. 23 that the company was no longer involved with the Express-AM5 and Express-AM6 satellites.
Both satellites are expected to operate in geostationary orbit for 15 years and deliver 14 kilowatts of power to their communications payloads, taking advantage of a new, higher-performance satellite platform developed by ISS Reshetnev in part following work done in the past with Thales Alenia Space and with Europe’s Astrium Satellites.
RSCC has informed Express-AM5 will operate from 140 degrees east and will carry 30 C-band, 40 Ku-band, 12 Ka-band and two L-band transponders. Express-AM6 will operate from 53 degrees east and carry 44 Ku-band, 14 C-band, 12 Ka-band and two L-band transponders.
Nov 18, 2009, post by Satellite News
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and Thales Alenia Space have agreed to work jointly on the next-generation satellite constellation Iridium NEXT program. Ball Aerospace’s possible roles and responsibilities would be assembly, integration and test (AI&T) for the Iridium satellites.
Under the current agreement, Ball Aerospace will apply its payload accommodation experience and product-line approach, leveraging decades of experience in producing commercial fixed-price remote sensing satellites. The company will process as many as four spacecraft at one time through its Boulder-based satellite production facility.
What is more, Ball Aerospace will advise Thales Alenia Space on possible hosted secondary payload opportunities to serve the needs of a variety of defense and civil missions.
“Ball Aerospace brings nearly five decades of space segment payload integration and test experience to the Thales offering,” informed David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace. “Together, Thales and Ball Aerospace are a formidable team in the competition to provide the next generation Iridium system.”
