The contracts were signed in the presence of representatives from the German Space Agency (DLR), the Spanish Delegation to ESA (CDTI) and representatives of delegations participating in the Small GEO programme.
The Small GEO Programme is aimed at the development of a general-purpose small geostationary satellite platform and consequent mission, which will enable European industry to play a significant role in the commercial telecom market for small platforms. ESA focuses its support on R&D activities, while the industrial partners finance a substantial part of the development costs and bear the risks associated to the launch and further exploitation.
To achieve this, ESA established an element within its Advanced Research and Telecommunications (ARTES) Programme called ARTES 11.
"This agreement for the development of the Small GEO represents an important step forward in developments that allow Europe to possess the technological realities that consolidate its spatial leadership," said Petra Mateos, President of Hispasat. "ARTES 11 is an excellent example of public-private collaboration based on the success of prior experiences."
ARTES 11 consists of two parts. The first part involves the development of a platform capable of supporting a payload mass of up to 300 kg, payload power of up to 3 kW, and a lifetime of up to 15 years. The second part involves the development and launch of a geostationary satellite and associated mission to provide flight qualification and an in-orbit demonstration for the platform.
A consortium led by the German company OHB-System AG has been working on the preliminary development of the Small Geostationary Platform since March 2007. The core team of companies jointly developing the platform includes Swedish Space Corporation (Sweden), Oerlikon (Switzerland) as well as OHB-System AG and its Luxembourgish LuxSpace, The consortium will also commercialize the platform in the future.
The platform definition phase has been completed while the detailed design, manufacturing and testing phases have now been authorised by this contract signature.
As far as the mission is concerned, Hispasat, leading operator for the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets, has built the necessary industrial team to implement all the mission elements.
OHB System AG will act as Satellite Prime. TESAT GmbH (Germany) will be the Payload Prime and will be responsible for the integration of the Transparent Repeater (produced by TESAT) and the REDSAT payload.
"The contract signature of both the Small GEO platform and Mission contracts is a major achievement for the Small GEO programme,"says Antonio Garutti, Small GEO Satellite Project Manager. "Thanks to the continuous ARTES 11 Delegation's support, the effort of the Industrial Prime Contractors - Hispasat and OHB - and the focus of the full team of their partners and subcontractors, we were able to reach this important milestone marking the start of the small GEO project implementation phase.
The resulting satellite, Hispasat (AG1), planned to be launched in 2012, will be placed in a geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36 000 kilometres, where it will supply Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and South America with multimedia services. It will serve as an important and distinctive asset in Hispasat’s satellite fleet with:
• a communication capacity of up to 24 transponders in Ku-band and 3 transponders in Ka band.
• a highly innovative payload, REDSAT, led by Spanish industry.
Thales Alenia Space-España will coordinate and lead a group of mainly Spanish companies to develop the REDSAT payload where Thales Alenia Space-España is responsible for the On-Board Processor and EADS CASA is responsible for the Reflector and DRA Antennas.
"We now have in front of us a very challenging period. I am confident that, with the same positive team spirit which has been put in place so far by all parties, we will turn it into a very interesting and successful project," says Mr. Garutti.
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