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Thales Alenia Space begins construction of new facilities in Spain  

The SPAINSAT NG satellite payloads will be integrated in this room, which is expected to be ready in 2020. It will pave the way for new services for space agencies and satellite operators.
At Thales Alenia Space in Spain.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67 %) and Leonardo (33 %) is setting up a new clean room in Spain. This facility, expected to be completed within a year, is intended to become a reference for the integration and test of large space systems in Spain.

Once completed, the company will have the capacity to pursue high complexity activities such as the integration of the telecommunication payloads for Spain’s next generation governmental satellites SPAINSAT NG and other large systems in the field of Earth observation and science instruments.

The new clean room will add more than 600 m2 clean area to the existing 2000 m2. With a free height of 12.5 meters in the inside, the facility will be equipped with bridge cranes with lifting capacity up to 12 tons each, prepared for the integration of payloads and instruments of large dimensions for all type of space missions, spanning telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation and science.

Eduardo Bellido, CEO of Thales Alenia Space in Spain said: “With these new capacities we are matching Europe’s space powers and we will be ready to pursue high level integration activities in Spain. We are currently leading the development of the telecommunication payloads for the SPAINSAT NG satellites in Spain, a state-of-the-art program in space technology, with these payloads to be integrated in the new clean room.” Bellido added: “This great investment shows the strong commitment of Thales Alenia Space in the development of high added value space activities in Spain.”

 Thales Alenia Space in Spain has so far participated in the build of 600 satellites, space vehicles and probes for space agencies and satellite operators all over the world, having built in its facilities in Madrid over 4000 equipment that feature over 200 million hours of operation in orbit.