Germany
Space in Germany
Thales in Germany has won the trust of well-known customers - including satellite manufacturers, space agencies, as well as civil and military institutions - with high-quality products for use on board satellites, for telecommunications and multimedia applications, but also for military use in radar systems or missiles.
At Thales in Germany, we have built up broad expertise in traveling wave tube technology over many decades. Our product portfolio also includes SSPA and dual TWT amplification solutions. This also includes cesium beam tubes, which were specially developed for installation in atomic clocks, as well as thruster solutions for electric drives.
Traveling wave tubes made in Ulm
We have been developing and producing traveling wave tubes and traveling wave tube amplifiers at our plant in Ulm for over 70 years. As the global market leader in this field, Thales traveling wave tubes are used on board most news, television, earth observation, navigation and scientific satellites. To date, we have manufactured more than 18,000 units for use in space. The total operating time of the tubes in this harsh environment is more than 1.8 million hours.
Thales dual TWT tube technology for today and tomorrow
Satellite manufacturers around the world are introducing a new generation of flexible, software-defined satellites (SDS) equipped with active antennas and operating in Ku- or Ka-band. Our dual TWT solution is our answer to this market change. The compact, lightweight traveling wave tube serves as a state-of-the-art amplification solution for geostationary and near-Earth satellite applications and is characterized by its low complexity and low mass with maximum reduced housing volume.
New propulsion technologies for satellites
HEMPT is our high-quality technology for satellite-based electric propulsion, derived from TWT technology. With the HEMPT 3050 engine, Thales in Germany has developed the propulsion system for attitude control for the German GEO satellite H2sat.
Thales was also selected by various space agencies (ESA, DLR) and the European Commission to develop the new EV0 engine generation. The cost-effective, high-performance engine serves satellite manufacturers as the basis for a propulsion system and is aimed at attracting increased interest from constellation start-ups.
Furthermore, Thales is consistently developing its product portfolio with the EV1 medium power engine to meet the requirements of the second generation and to set standards in high-value markets such as exploration or in-orbit robotics.
