17 Oct 2022
The first satellite to be built under ESA’s Eurostar Neo programme has launched.
The satellite – called Eutelsat Hotbird 13F – was developed and built by satellite manufacturer Airbus for satellite operator Eutelsat. It is based on the Eurostar Neo telecommunications satellite platform, developed under an ESA Partnership Project with Airbus designed to foster innovation and competitiveness in the European space industry.
17 Nov 2022
A consortium of European industry, led by Dutch firm TNO and backed by the European Space Agency (ESA), has successfully established the world’s first robust optical datalink using real-world conditions in field tests held in the Netherlands.
7 Oct 2022
Oxford Space Systems has developed a metal mesh manufacturing facility at their Harwell base, manufacturing foldable surfaces for their reflector antennas. The project, backed by the European Space Agency (ESA)’s ARTES Core Competitiveness programme, will enable the company to meet the growing market demand for high-specification antennas.
3 Oct 2022
Are you ready to join ESA’s initiative to support European space companies to create a constellation of lunar satellites that connect and guide missions to the Moon?
13 Sep 2022
The first satellite to be built under ESA’s Eurostar Neo programme stands ready to be shipped to its launch site.
The satellite – called Eutelsat Hotbird 13F – is one of an identical pair developed by satellite manufacturer Airbus for satellite operator Eutelsat in an ESA Partnership Project designed to foster innovation and competitiveness in the European space industry.
8 Sep 2022
The fourth Spacebus Neo satellite to benefit from ESA’s Neosat programme has launched into space on board the second Ariane 5 launch mission of 2022.
The 8.9 metre, three-storeys-high communications satellite – which will deliver high-speed broadband and in-flight connectivity across Europe for its operator, Eutelsat – weighs 6.525 tonnes and accounted for 99% of the 6.62-tonne launch mass.
16 Aug 2022
Europe’s first commercial satellite capable of being completely reprogrammed while in space is now in commercial use. Satellite operator Eutelsat has sold six of its eight beams – used for data and mobile communications – to organisations including governments and other users. It is expected that the entire satellite capacity will be sold in the coming months.
29 Jul 2022
Satellite antenna size and the data throughput achievable in a satellite communications channel are directly related, but the benefits from an increased aperture size can also be used to enable access to smaller ground antennas or to improve quality of signal (QoS), as well as increase data throughput. As well as gain, increasing satellite antenna size also enables increased spatial discrimination, enabling greater frequency reuse across a given service area. With the satellite industry's shift from a broadcast model to a connectivity-based approach comes increased competition with terrestrial networks, and a corresponding need to increase total system throughput and spectrum utilisation. The result has been greater interest in larger antenna systems for telecommunications missions.
27 Jul 2022
An innovative small-sized satellite product line for geostationary telecommunications has passed its ESA system requirements review and received its official name of “HummingSat”.
26 Jul 2022
ESA has been a key partner of European industry around secure connectivity for more than 25 years, boosting innovation and competitiveness and facilitating the timely delivery of the most advanced SATCOM solutions worldwide through its telecommunication programme (ARTES).