Airbus D&S selected by Telesat to further develop the design of its LEO satellite constellation

press release




Airbus Defence and Space has been selected by Telesat as a major industrial partner to support their System Design and Risk Management phase for Telesat’s LEO constellation now in development. Under the terms of the contract, Airbus will perform system optimisation, requirements engineering, and initial design of key hardware and software components for space, ground and user terminal segments of the Telesat LEO system. Airbus has agreed to deliver to Telesat, at the end of the 9-month project term, an end-to-end solution that meets the performance, capacity and cost targets Telesat has established for its state-of-the-art LEO constellation.

Telesat’s LEO constellation is being designed to transform global communications by offering an unsurpassed combination of capacity, speed, security, resilience and low cost with latency comparable to, or better than, today’s terrestrial networks. The advanced capabilities of Telesat LEO can satisfy many of the world’s most challenging communications needs, such as accelerating 5G expansion, bridging the digital divide, and setting new levels of performance for commercial and government broadband on land, sea and in the air.

Airbus will bring its wide range of expertise covering the full end-to-end communication system with satellite constellation and ground segment architectures, design, manufacturing and operations based on its strong heritage in GEO and unrivalled experience in innovative technologies, design and automated production of LEO satellite constellations.

"With four telecommunications satellites built by Airbus in its GEO fleet, Telesat has again affirmed its confidence in Airbus by selecting our company for its LEO system design phase, which aims to maximise capacity, coverage and performance while minimising delivered cost per bit,” said Arnaud de Rosnay, Head of Telecom Satellites at Airbus. “We are extremely pleased to continue our successful partnership with Telesat and to have the opportunity to apply our leading expertise to Telesat LEO, providing Telesat with a technically solid and truly compelling LEO constellation design."



About Airbus
Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2017 it generated revenues of € 59 billion restated for IFRS 15 and employed a workforce of around 129,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners from 100 to more than 600 seats. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as one of the world’s leading space companies. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide.

About Telesat

Telesat is a leading global satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecom, corporate and government customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices and facilities around the world, the company’s state-of-the-art fleet consists of 16 GEO satellites, the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1 and one Phase 1 LEO satellite which is the start of Telesat’s planned global LEO satellite constellation that will offer low latency, high throughput broadband services. An additional GEO satellite is scheduled for launch in August 2018. Telesat is also a leading technical consultant providing high value expertise and support to satellite operators, insurers and other industry participants on a global basis. Privately held, Telesat’s principal shareholders are Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).