Telesat signs up with consortium to develop designs for LEO constellation

Telesat has entered into a contract with the consortium of Thales Alenia Space and Maxar Technologies, the owner of SSL, to further develop system designs for Telesat’s LEO constellation.

The Thales Alenia Space-Maxar consortium, working in close cooperation with Telesat, submitted an innovative approach for maximising the performance and service capabilities of Telesat’s LEO constellation architecture. Thales Alenia Space and Maxar have collaborated on major satellite programmes around the world and each brings a broad range of technical skills and experience along with a strong belief in the project and a commitment to its success.

Over the coming months, Thales Alenia Space-Maxar will complete their preliminary design, address key hardware and software development items, and perform a series of technical reviews leading to a firm proposal for the manufacture and launch of Telesat’s LEO satellites and deployment of the ground system infrastructure. Telesat anticipates deciding by mid-2019 on a prime contractor for Telesat’s LEO program – space segment, ground segment and system integration.

Telesat’s LEO constellation is aimed at transforming global communications by offering a combination of capacity, speed, security, resiliency and low cost with latency that is as good or better than the most advanced terrestrial networks. It will serve the entire globe and become a core component in satisfying many of the world’s most challenging communications requirements. Telesat LEO will accelerate 5G expansion, end the digital divide with fiber-like high speed services into rural and remote communities and set new levels of performance for commercial and government broadband on land, sea and in the air.

“We are very pleased that we have now signed the outstanding team of Thales Alenia Space-Maxar who will further develop their design and submit a final proposal in early 2019 for Telesat’s full LEO system, both space and ground segment,” said Erwin Hudson, Vice President Telesat LEO.

“Combining Telesat’s proprietary LEO architecture with our global spectrum rights creates a tremendous opportunity for Telesat’s LEO system to truly transform global communications. Telesat looks forward to this next phase of the program and to selecting a prime contractor to build and deploy our LEO space and ground infrastructure.”