Spainsat NG is a Spanish
communications satellite program aimed at developing next-generation satellites to meet Spain's government and military secure communications needs.
The industrial management of the program is carried out by a consortium of four contractors:
Airbus Defense and Space
Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...
in Spain and France, and
Thales Alenia Space in Spain and France. Other companies from the Spanish space sector that will also participate are Acorde, Anteral, Arquimea, Crisa,
GMV, Iberespacio,
Indra
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...
,
Sener and Tecnobit. Public participation includes the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
, the
Ministry of Industry,
CDTI,
INTA and
ESA. The satellites operator will be
Hisdesat.
The Spainsat NG program comprises two satellites, Spainsat NG I and Spainsat NG II, which will be located in
geostationary orbit
A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...
and will operate in
X-band, military
Ka-band and
UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
. These satellites will be based on the Eurostar Neo platform, Airbus' new geostationary telecommunications satellite product. This platform is a significant evolution of the reliable
Eurostar platform. The communication payloads of both satellites will be provided by the Spanish industry, with Airbus in Spain being responsible for the X-band payload and Thales in Spain being responsible for the K
a and UHF band payloads.
The satellites will have protection against interference, as well as the ability to precisely
geolocate
In computing, Internet geolocation is software capable of deducing the geographic position of a device connected to the Internet. For example, the device's IP address can be used to determine the country, city, or ZIP code, determining its geogra ...
the origin of the interference, and will probably also have protection against
high altitude nuclear explosions (HANE).
The first satellite, Spainsat NG I, will be launched in 2024 and will occupy the GEO 29º E position, replacing
XTAR-EUR. The second one, the Spainsat NG II, will be launched in 2025 and will occupy the GEO 30º W position, replacing
Spainsat. The Spainsat NG satellites will have an operational useful life of 15 years, remaining in service until 2040. Both launches will be performed by a
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
Falcon 9 rocket.
In October 2020, Spainsat NG program successfully passed the
Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and in December 2021 it passed the
Critical Design Review (CDR).
See also
*
Spainsat
References
External links
Hisdesat's website
{{Space program of Spain
Satellites of Spain
Communications satellites