Tag: Thales
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ESA Advances Aeolus-2 Weather Satellite with €70 Million Development Award
The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved the selection of a prime contractor for its Aeolus-2 weather satellite program and is preparing to issue an initial €70 million contract to begin the next phase of development, according to project officials. Aeolus-2 is intended as the operational successor to the original Aeolus mission, which was built…
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Europe Urged to Set Roadmap for Space-Based Data Centres as Industry Opportunity Grows
Europe risks ceding leadership in a rapidly emerging industry unless it urgently develops a roadmap for placing data centres in orbit, according to a new report from the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI). The institute’s analysis concludes that space-based data centres could become a transformative sector for Europe’s digital and space industries, with the global…
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Airbus, Leonardo and Thales agree to form new European company
Technicians with the European Space Agency and Airbus/Airbus Netherlands are shown performing an illumination test on one of the solar array wing panels during installation on the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 30, 2020. The solar…
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Europe has the worst imaginable idea to counter SpaceX’s launch dominance
It is not difficult to understand the unease on the European continent about the rise of SpaceX and its controversial founder, Elon Musk. SpaceX has surpassed the European Space Agency and its institutional partners in almost every way when it comes to accessing space and providing secure communications. Last year, for example, SpaceX launched 134…
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Ariane 5 launches advanced broadband satellite for Eutelsat
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket returned to action on September 7, deploying a high-power communications satellite for French operator Eutelsat. Liftoff from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guiana occurred on time at 6:45 PM local time (21:45 UTC) at the opening of an 86-minute launch window. Wednesday’s launch deployed Eutelsat Konnect VHTS — or…
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Euclid moving into final phase of testing following integration milestone
The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Euclid space telescope has moved closer to launch after prime contractor Thales Alenia Space mated the spacecraft’s service module and payload module. Euclid will aim to study the “dark universe” through visible-light and near-infrared astronomy. The mission had been slated to launch no earlier than the first quarter of 2023,…