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Astrium Wins ACES Deal With ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) has contracted Astrium to develop the Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES) for the International Space Station (ISS).
The 35 million euro ($45.2 million) contract will see Astrium deliver the ACES payload for its scheduled launch on a Japanese HTV transport vehicle in fall 2013 with an on-orbit accommodation on the Columbus External Payload Facility. The duration of the mission will be at least two years.
The contract comprises the development of the ACES Flight Model, the set-up of the ACES specific ground segment, the establishment of a network of ground reference clocks and communication with the ISS-based ACES payload and its two atomic clocks via microwave-link ground terminals.
The ACES payload will test a new generation of atomic clocks in space. The Caesium cold atom clock PHARAO, developed and provided by CNES, and the Space Hydrogen Maser (SHM), funded through the Swiss contribution to ELIPS (European Life and Physical Sciences Program), are the heart of the ACES payload. They will be characterized and compared to each other as well as to ground based national time standards in different countries.
Thales Alenia Space inked contract for Franco- Italian satellite: Athena-Fidus
The company announced a contract has been inked with the French and Italian space agencies for a broadband civil and military telecommunications satellite.
According to AFP, Thales Alenia Space, European leader in satellite systems, announced in a press release today that “a contract has been signed with the French and Italian space agencies, CNES and ASI, to develop, construct, test and provide in orbit a broadband civil and military telecommunications satellite, Athena-Fidus.”
The satellite will add new resources to the French and Italian ministries of defence, in addition civil security organisations such as police and fire departments will also benefit from the new resources offered by the satellite.
With a launch weight of over three metric tons, the satellite is expected to be launched in 2013 by Arianespace.
While the exact amount of the contract has not been revealed, the specialist magazine Space News estimates that it is in the order of 275 Million euros.
Thales Alenia Space, which was set-up in April 2007, has decided to locate its corporate and operational headquarters in Cannes. The group is held 67 % by Thales and 33 % by Finmeccanica, and employs 7,200 people on 11 industrial sites in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
First journey for Alphabus spacecraft
The service module of the new Alphabus generation of telecommunication satellites has completed its first journey ? from Cannes to Toulouse, in France. The three-day trip was completed last Friday.
This platform will be used for the Alphasat I-XL satellite being built by Astrium for Inmarsat and ESA, allowing an early orbital demonstration and validation of Alphabus. Alphasat will be launched in 2012 using an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Positioned in geostationary orbit at 25°E to provide extended coverage to Africa, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia, Alphasat will supplement the existing Inmarsat satellite constellation and offer new and advanced services.
The Alphabus service module consists of the main structure, central tube, internal deck and other structural elements carrying the chemical propulsion system with the main apogee boost motor, the pressure control assembly with three helium tanks and the two large propellant tanks inside the central tube, as well as part of the plasma propulsion system and its xenon tanks.
The last tests on the chemical propulsion system were conducted in December in the explosion-proof facility at Cannes. Preparations are under way for completing the service module at Astrium. The next step is to integrate the electronic equipment before the module is switched on for the first time and functional tests begin.
Other structural elements are also being worked on at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The first half of the repeater module structure, fully equipped with electrical harness and thermal control, will be shipped to Astrium, Portsmouth (UK), in early February for payload integration. The second half of the repeater module will be shipped to Portsmouth in March.
Alphabus, the new European high-power telecommunications platform jointly developed by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space and initiated by a partnership between ESA and the French space agency, CNES, is a coordinated European response to the increased market demand for larger telecommunication payloads. A wide range of commercial payloads to provide TV broadcast, broadband multimedia, Internet access and mobile or fixed telecommunication services can be accommodated on Alphabus.