For planet earth and beyond
12 April 2016 – At an event held on 5 April at ESA Headquarters in Paris, more than eighty high-level representatives from the European space industry and government discussed project proposals for the ESA Govsatcom Precursor programme.
29 March 2016 – Thales Alenia Space Belgium (TAS-B) has announced that its PPU Mk3 power supply for plasma thrusters has now been qualified. The development and qualification of the new unit was supported by the Belgian government and by ESA through the Competitiveness & Growth element of the ARTES programme.
23 March 2016 – Pioneer is a new ESA initiative that aims to facilitate in-orbit test flights for innovative services, applications, systems and technologies by providing affordable, timely and efficient access to space.
18 March 2016 – Newtec is the first satellite equipment manufacturer to deliver a high-speed VSAT modem based on the new S2X standard. With the new terminal, the Belgian company is targeting the high-end mobility, IP trunking and High Throughput Satellite (HTS) markets.
15 March 2016 – With the support of ESA, Thales Alenia Space France (TAS-F) has developed a prototype of a reflector antenna that can be reconfigured in orbit, a breakthrough that the company believes has great commercial potential.
9 March 2016 – A recent four-day event held at ESTEC provided a broad overview of current payload technology and product development.
8 Mar 2016 – ESA and UK satellite operator Inmarsat are forging ahead with the development of air–ground communications via satellite as part of Europe’s plan to modernise air traffic management across the continent and beyond.
7 March 2016 – Using GNSS for autonomous station-keeping is a significant breakthrough that should reduce operational costs and improve pointing performance of telecoms satellites. With the support of ESA, Thales Alenia Space Italia has developed a GNSS receiver module that can be hosted on a spacecraft's on-board computer.
UPDATE: The deadline for submitting a Notification of Intent has been extended until 23 March 2016 12:00pm.
26 February 2016 – Over the past two years both the European Council and the EU Competitiveness Council have called for the preparation of the next generation of governmental satellite communications, through close cooperation among Member States, EDA, the EC and ESA.
22 February 2016 – ARTES is one of four ESA programmes taking part in the Agency's new Space4Rail initiative, which addresses how the challenges and needs of the rail sector can be met by the use of space-based solutions.