Space

ESA awards S-band onboard satellite mobile broadcast repeater development to Thales Alenia Space

20 June 2007

Paris Air Show Le Bourget, June 20, 2007 - The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected Thales Alenia Space to develop an advanced S-band onboard satellite mobile broadcast repeater and to develop and qualify repeater's key equipment. This equipment will be fully compliant with hybrid satellite/terrestrial systems based on DVB-SH, the new mobile broadcast standard whose technical specifications have been adopted by the DVB Project. The contract has been signed in the frame of the ARTES 4 program, the ESA-Industry partnership programme for satellite telecommunication projects.

The S-Band repeaters will be used onboard satellite payloads to provide mobile multimedia broadcast services (Mobile TV, digital radio...) directly onto user terminals. S-Band repeaters are operating in the 2,170MHz - 2,200MHz frequency range, which is immediately adjacent to the 3G band. This equipment is one of the key building blocks of the end-to-end "Unlimited Mobile TV" solution developed by Alcatel-Lucent.

Under the terms of the contract, Thales Alenia Space, through its subsidiary Thales Alenia Space España, will be in charge of all the repeater-engineering tasks as well as of the development and qualification of several key units, in order to be prepared for future mobile multimedia broadcasting opportunities.

Angel Post, CEO of Thales Alenia Space España said: "We are extremely honoured by ESA's selection as it highlights the confidence they place in our company. Mobile-TV is a booming market and we are very proud to be part of it." He also added: "This contract confirms as well the strong position of Thales Alenia Space in the telecommunication applications domain and its European leadership in the field of S-band RF subsystems field."

The S-band repeater will be composed of 2 repeaters using the same S-band antenna:

* A return repeater linking the end-users in S-band to the hub(s) in Ku-band.
* A forward repeater linking the hub(s) in Ku-band to end-users in S-band

About Thales Alenia Space
European leader in satellite systems and at the forefront of orbital infrastructures, Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%). Together with Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space forms the "Space Alliance" between the two groups. The company is a worldwide reference in telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. With 7200 employees and 11 industrial sites, Thales Alenia Space is located in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium. www.thalesaleniaspace.com