News

A full house for ESA's ScyLight industry day

21 February 2017 – The large turnout for this recent event indicates tremendous interest in optical technologies within the satellite communications industry.

ScyLight Outline Proposal template is now available

New templates now available for ESA's latest ARTES programme element: ScyLight

First SmallGEO mission reaches geostationary transfer orbit

28 January 2017 – The first flight opportunity for the new SmallGEO platform, Hispasat's H36W-1 satellite, was succesfully launched from the European Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, in the early hours of this morning.

SmallGEO media briefing

18 January 2017 – A special media briefing on SmallGEO and its first flight took place on Wednesday 18 January, at ESA HQ in Paris. Hispasat 36W-1 will be the first satellite to use the SmallGEO platform, marking the first partnership between ESA and the Spanish operator.

Airbus Defence & Space launches SpaceDataHighway challenge

12 January 2017 – Airbus Defence & Space, which developed the European Data Relay Satellite system (EDRS) in private-public partnership with ESA, has launched the SpaceDataHighway competition and will award up to €75k to the winning idea.

Preparing for air traffic control via satellite

20 Dec 2016 – Flight trials were recently undertaken by ESA and Inmarsat in the next stage of the ARTES Iris Precursor programme to deliver high-capacity secure digital data links via satellite. 

Alphasat hosted payload programme to be extended

20 December 2016 — ESA, Inmarsat, and payload providers have agreed to continue the very successful Alphasat hosted payload programme for another three years.

End of Year Message from Magali Vaissiere

16 December 2016 – Magali Vaissiere, head of the Telecoms directorate, looks back over an exciting and successful year.

After a decade of development "CAN Bus for Space" is flight-ready

8 December 2016 – After a decade of development and the long-term support of ESA, CAN Bus for Space will be deployed for forthcoming missions. The new data bus has been adopted by all the major European satellite manufacturers.

Way forward for ESA Telecom following Ministerial Council meeting

3 December 2016 – ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme adds new elements and strengthens existing ones, with an overall subscription of €1.2 billion following the Council meeting at Ministerial Level in Lucerne, Switzerland.