Satellite News

Thales Alenia Space has delivered the K-band high gain antenna to be integrated with the rest of the Euclid satellite in its plant in Turin. Thales Alenia Space in Spain is responsible for the deep space communications system, which comprises the communications panel delivered in 2019 and the high gain antenna, built by Thales Alenia Space in Rome. Thales Alenia Space in Italy is the satellite prime contractor of the Euclid mission and also responsible for the service module while Airbus in France as main industrial partner is developing the instrument.

Thales Alenia Space and AVIO as co-contractor have signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development of the automated reusable Space Rider transportation system, designed for deployment by the new Vega C light launcher into low Earth orbit (LEO). The total worth of the contract is EUR167 million.

ALTEC and Telespazio have signed a contract with ESA to manage the ground segment and operations for the Space Rider system. ALTEC and Telespazio will be responsible for managing the entire ground segment and subsequent mission operations and act as Co-Prime, in an integrated manner.

Chang’e 5’s ascender crashed back on the moon at about 2330 UTC on 7 December 2020 after successfully transferring lunar samples to the probe’s returner at the designated lunar orbit, according to the China Nation Space Administration (CNSA).

MDA announced that it has been awarded a contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop Canadarm3, the third generation Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based robotic system destined for “Gateway,” a lunar-orbiting international space station. The contract involves the award of Phase A of the Canadarm3 programme, with options for the follow-on phases.

Teledyne e2v’s Space Imaging team, a part of the Teledyne Imaging Group, has secured funding from the UK Space Agency’s National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) that will demonstrate and help support intelligent image processing platforms.

Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with Northrop Grumman to develop the pressurised module for HALO (Habitation And Logistics Outpost) that will be one of the first two elements to form the Lunar Gateway which will be launched in late 2023.

Thermal vacuum tests of the Arktika-M spacecraft have been successfully conducted at Roskosmos Rocket and Space Industry Scientific Test Center in Peresvet.