MDA Space, a space technology company, will be supplying Telesat LEO ULC, a division of Telesat Corporation, with additional MDA AURORA next-generation broadband satellites, coinciding with the operator’s announcement that it has been expanding the Telesat Lightspeed low Earth orbit constellation.
Telesat has announced that it has been expanding its LEO constellation by 69 satellites, bringing the total number of fully funded satellites from 156 to 225. For MDA Space, this had represented an increase of 27 satellites to the previously announced 198 satellites being manufactured for the Telesat Lightspeed LEO constellation. As a result, MDA Space had increased the total value of the contract by $474 million, which had included the new satellites, the addition of 500 MHz of military Ka-band to Lightspeed satellites currently being built, replacing the same amount of commercial Ka-band spectrum, and other long-lead items.
This constellation expansion followed the Strategic Partnership Agreement announced the previous year between MDA Space, the Department of National Defence and Telesat to provide connectivity across the Canadian Arctic as part of the Enhanced Satellite Communications Project-Polar (ESCP-P) program, enabling the Canadian Armed Forces to operate in the region.
