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Thales Alenia Space España wins ESA contract for Launcher Telemetry Acquisition via Satellite kit

06 March 2009

Cannes, 6 March 2009 - Thales Alenia Space announced today that its Spanish subsidiary, Thales Alenia Space España, has won a 3.8 million euros contract from the Directorate of Technical and Quality Management of the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development and qualification of an avionics kit to provide Launcher Telemetry Acquisition via Satellite (LTAS). This kit will be used on future missions by Ariane 5, Vega and other European launchers, and is capable of communicating via relay satellites such as the American TDRSS constellation and/or the European Artemis satellite.

Thales Alenia Space España, as prime contractor, will be responsible for the design and production of an engineering model, followed by a ground compatibility test using the Artemis satellite. An in-orbit demonstration test currently planned on the second Vega flight, VERTA-1, will follow. Deliveries are scheduled for 2010.

Thales Alenia Space was chosen to continue with phase C/D1 based on the successful completion of the previous phase B and its promising results. It will also team up with Spanish company RYMSA to supply the antennas.

The LTAS kit is designed to be installed on a launcher to handle the mission's telemetry transmissions via satellite. The kit will encode and modulate the telemetry data from the launcher's avionics, then amplify and transmit this data via the antennas.

"We are extremely pleased to have won this contract, and we are proud of this new product which further strengthens our European leadership in advanced telecom subsystems and transponders," said Angel Post, Chief Executive Officer of Thales Alenia Space España. "Furthermore, the flexibility of the LTAS kit means we can support all types of launchers, and communicate via different satellite systems."

About Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%), is the European leader in satellite systems and at the forefront of orbital infrastructures. Together with Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space forms a Space Alliance between the two groups. Thales Alenia Space is the global benchmark in spaceborne telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense, security, navigation and science applications. The company has 7,200 employees and operates 11 industrial facilities in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.www.thalesaleniaspace.com

About Thales Alenia Space España
Thales Alenia Space España, the Spanish subsidiary of Thales Alenia Space, is a world leader in S-band TT&C subsystems, a recognized supplier of passive RF equipment and a pioneer in onboard processing components and subsystems. It has already contributed to more than 135 communication, optical and radar Earth observation, science and navigation satellite programs, as well as space infrastructures.