Hisdesat selects Airbus and Thales Alenia Space for the construction of two SpainSAT NG satellites

(To Airbus)
08/05/19

A consortium of four main contractors, consisting of Airbus and Thales Alenia Space in Spain and France, was selected by the Spanish government satellite operator Hisdesat Servicios Estratégicos SA for the construction of two new generation SpainSAT satellites (NG). Used for government communications, these new generation satellites will replace the current Spainsat and Xtar-EUR satellites. Airbus will act as "leader" of the consortium.

The SPAINSAT NG program includes two satellites, SPAINSAT NG I and II, which will be located in different geostationary orbital slots to operate on the X, Ka military and UHF frequency bands. 

The first of these new generation Spainsat satellites will be launched in the 2023, thus ensuring the continuity of secure communication services to the Ministry of Defense and Spanish government agencies, which use the current fleet.

The SPAINSAT NG mission will provide coverage of a vast area of ​​the world, ranging from the United States to South America and the Middle East, and which includes Africa, Europe and Asia to Singapore. Both satellites will allow:

  • Ensure effective command and control of operations outside the field of view in the Planet's 2 / 3.
  • Guarantee communications in operating theaters without communication infrastructures.
  • Intensify mobility in satellite communications, improve capacity, security and communication resilience.
  • Develop the potential of the central network (battlespace-netcentric warfare and operations).

Airbus in Spain will be responsible for the X-band payload, while Thales Alenia Space in Spain will be responsible for the UHF and mil-Ka band payloads. Other companies in the Spanish space sector will also be involved.

The satellites will be based on the Eurostar Neo platform, the new offer of airbus geostationary telecommunications satellites, which represents a significant evolution of the highly reliable and efficient Eurostar series, with the addition of a series of important innovations. These include a fully flexible X-band payload, which uses active antennas with in-orbit reconfiguration capabilities, an integrated digital processor that will interconnect the X and mil-Ka band payloads for crossbanding and a dedicated high-speed link service that enables a quick reconfiguration. 

Hisdesat is the owner and operator of the new generation of SPAINSAT NG communication satellites. The main customer is the Spanish Ministry of Defense, as part of a public-private partnership with Hisdesat. However, the new satellites will also support other Spanish government agencies, allies and friendly countries through bilateral agreements, in addition to the EU government communications program, "Govsatcom". These satellites could also take part in the future CP130 satellite communications package from NATO.