Athena-Fidus (Access on theatres for European allied forces nations-French Italian dual use satellite) is a French-Italian telecommunication

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

providing high-throughput secure communications to both nation's armed forces and their emergency services. It was manufactured by

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...

under the supervision of

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

, the

Direction générale de l'armement The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA; English: Directorate General of Armaments), is the French Government Defence procurement and technology agency responsible for project management, development and purchase of weapon systems for the Fr ...

(DGA) and the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency ( it, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international enti ...

(ASI). It complements the lower-throughput but more secure Syracuse 3 satellites. The satellite has a wet mass of 3080 kg and was placed on geostationary orbit in 2014. Its expected lifetime is 15 years.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing contract was awarded in February 2010 to

. The satellite bus is a Spacebus 4000B2, smash in

Cannes Mandelieu Space Center The Cannes Mandelieu Space Center is an industrial plant dedicated to spacecraft manufacturing, located in both the towns of Cannes and Mandelieu in France. After a long history in aircraft manufacturing, starting in 1929, the center became incre ...

Launch

The satellite was launched by a Ariane 5 ECA rocket on 6 February 2014 during the VA217 mission. After some on-orbit tests, official satellite commissioning took place on 14 March 2014.

Payload

Although this is a common program, each country operates its own share of the payload. The satellite provides an encrypted, 3 Gbit/s throughput, using mostly Ka-band links. It carries 14 antennas including 7 mobile spot antennas, enabling positioning of steerable 1750-km diameter spot beams over operational theaters requiring a high bandwidth. France owns five beams and Italy, two. The system will enable communication with deployable ground stations (420 for France), and with drones.

Ground Segment

The

ground segment A ground segment consists of all the ground-based elements of a space system used by operators and support personnel, as opposed to the space segment and user segment. The ground segment enables management of a spacecraft, and distribution of pay ...

for the French part of the capacity is called Comcept. Comcept will provide a network of fixed and deployable ground stations using full-IP (Internet Protocol) technology. The system includes high-data-rate (HDR) ground stations which are installed in a transportable shelter and provide a speed of approximately 10 Mbit/s. The Comcept system is provided by Airbus Defence and Space and Actia Sodielec.

Russian espionage

On 7 September 2018, during a visit to the

Toulouse Space Centre The Toulouse Space Centre (french: Centre spatial de Toulouse; CST) is a research and development centre of CNES. Founded in September 1968, it is located in the Rangueil-Lespinet district of Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occ ...

, the Ministry of the Armed Forces,

Florence Parly Florence Parly (born 8 May 1963) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Armed Forces under President Emmanuel Macron from 2017 to 2022. A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), she previously served as Secretary of State for t ...

, accused Russia of having committed "an act of espionage" in 2017 against the satellite to try to intercept secure communications.Johanna Decorse, ''Reuters'', 7 septembre 2018
« La France accuse Moscou d'espionnage sur le satellite Athena-Fidus »
/ref>

References

« The Athena- Fidus satellite : a model of european French-Italian cooperation », in ''Aeroplans'', 16 February 2010

/ref> «Thales Alenia Space will build the Athena-Fidus dual use French_Italian telecommunication system, Thales Alenia Space presse release , 10 February 2010
en ligne www.thalesgroup.com
/ref> CNES press releas

/ref> "The Athena-Fidus telecommunication satellite is operational", .

press release

/ref>

External links

*
Thales Alenia Space official website

CNES mission page
{{Orbital launches in 2014 Communications satellites of Italy Spacecraft launched in 2014 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites of France Satellites of Italy Communications satellites of France