August 6, 2010 - Thales Alenia Space delivers first three second-generation satellites to Globalstar
Thales Alenia Space Belgium is to supply the electrical cores (power conditioning & distribution units – PCDUs) for the 48 satellites of the forthcoming Globalstar 2nd generation constellation.
The PCDUs built by Thales Alenia Space Belgium will distribute the electrical power from the two sources on board the satellites, namely the photovoltaic solar panels and the batteries (during a solar eclipse) and also manage the storage of surplus power from the solar panels in the satellites’ batteries.
For Thales Alenia Space Belgium this project represents 125 000 hours of work and a substantial increase in its production capacity, as the company will have to produce up to four PCDUs a month in addition to its many other ongoing orders. Thales Alenia Space ETCA is also to supply seven SCOEs (specific check-out equipment) to supply power to the Globalstar satellites during the integration and launch phases.
In addition to Belgium and France, the Thales Alenia Space sites in Italy and Spain are also involved in the project.
August 4, 2010 – Successful launch for Rascom-QAF1R and Nilesat 201 telecommunication satellites
The Belgian subsidiary Thales Alenia Space, Thales Alenia Space ETCA, has manufactured the electrical core and Satellite Distribution and Interface Units that redistribute the power received at the electrical core to its other electronic equipment of both satellites.
Thales Alenia Space ETCA supplied 36 3G EPCs. This equipment, together with the travelling-wave tubes, amplifies the data signals that the satellite’s transmitters send to Earth.
June 27th, 2010 - Arabsat 5A satellite successfully launched
Arabsat 5A telecommunication satellite has been successfully launched by Arianespace form Kourou, in French Guyana, with an Ariane 5 rocket. Arabsat 5A will provide a large range of satellite communications services for Middle East and Africa. Arabsat 5A was built by an industrial team of EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, acting as co-prime contractors.
Thales Alenia Space ETCA, based in Charleroi, supplied, as every time, 21 electronic control and command equipment of Ariane 5 as well as the exploitation of the control benches by its team based to Kourou.
May 5th, 2010 - Herschel and Planck to log one year of successes in space
On May 14, 2009, an Ariane 5 lifted off from French Guiana with one of its most ambitious payload ever, not one but two deep space observatories – Herschel and Planck – designed to answer crucial questions regarding the origins, evolution and fate of the Universe and its components. These two jewels of high technology, considered as the most complex satellites ever produced in Europe, were both developed and built by an industrial team led by Thales Alenia Space under the largest contract ever awarded by the European Space Agency for a science mission. Thales Alenia Space ETCA, based in Charleroi, developed and built the “electrical core” for both satellites and electronic units which supply power to the two satellites’ transmitters.
April 2nd, 2010 – Jean-Max Pratx is appointed CEO of Thales Alenia Space ETCA
On March 1st, 2010, Jean-Max Pratx was appointed CEO of Thales Alenia Space ETCA, a Belgian subsidiary of Thales Alenia Space based in Charleroi. Since 1987, Jean-Max Pratx has held various positions within Thales Alenia Space, including Vice-President of On-board Electronics from 2004 to 2010. He already worked in Belgium at Thales Alenia Space ETCA from 2003 to 2004 as Industrial Director.
Before joining Thales Alenia Space, from 1982 to 1987 Jean-Max Pratx worked for France Telecom as research engineer and Regional Operations Manager. Jean-Max Pratx, 53, is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécoms (ENST) in Paris.
April 1st, 2010 – SIRAL, a new-generation radar altimeter-interferometer for the CryoSat satellite
Scientists worldwide are impatiently awaiting critical data to be supplied by the Thales Alenia Space-designed SIRAL interferometric radar altimeter, which will help them assess the size and thickness of polar ice and how it changes over time. By more precisely measuring its surface and changes in elevation, scientists will be able to better understand the ice cycle and our changing climate.
Thales Alenia Space ETCA, in Charleroi, provided the power-supply equipment for the pulsed load of the SIRAL2 instrument.
March 12, 2010 - Thales Alenia Space begins the development of Sentinel 1B and 3B environmental satellites
Thales Alenia Space announced today that it has started the development of Sentinel 1B and 3B Earth observation satellites in its Italian and French facilities. These contracts have been awarded to Thales Alenia Space in December 2009, worth 270 million euros, by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.
Thales Alenia Space ETCA has to deliver 12 equipment allowing to feed with electricity the transmitters of satellites Sentinel 1B, 2B and 3B as well as the electric heart of each of both satellites Sentinel 1B and 3B. The Belgian company is also involved in the realization of satellites Sentinel 1A, 2A and 3A.
February 24, 2010 - Thales Alenia Space to built Jason-3 operational oceanographic satellite
Thales Alenia Space announced to have signed with French Space Agency (CNES), the contract to build the Jason-3 satellite.
The Jason-3 operational oceanographic mission involves a quadripartite collaboration between the two meteorological organizations Eumetsat and NOAA, acting as the leaders of the program, and CNES and its American counterpart NASA.
Thales Alenia Space ETCA, in Charleroi, will design and manufacture one of the power units of the Poseidon-3B altimeter, an instrument of Jason-3.
January 14, 2010 - 5 years ago the Huygens space probe landed on Saturn’s most mysterious moon
For its first planetary mission, in 1991 the European Space Agency selected Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor, leading a team of manufacturers from throughout Europe. Objective? The on-site exploration of an unknown atmosphere around an enigmatic moon, located much further away than any other atmospheric probe had ventured to date. Thales Alenia Space and a European industrial consortium rose to the challenge, and the Huygens space probe lifted off on October 15, 1997, attached to the Cassini orbiter and headed for Saturn. Thales Alenia Space ETCA had supplied the electric sub-system of the probe, including the electric heart, a unit PYRO for the command of the deployment of parachutes, shields and other instruments as well as 5 lithium batteries.