The Cannes Mandelieu Space Center is an industrial plant dedicated to

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

manufacturing, located in both the towns of

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

and

Mandelieu Mandelieu-la-Napoule (; oc, Mandaluec la Napola; locally spelled Mandelieu-La Napoule) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, just to the ...

in France. After a long history in aircraft manufacturing, starting in 1929, the center became increasingly involved in

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

activities after the Second World War, and

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 ...

s are now the plant's main product. After having been the Satellite Division of Aérospatiale, then Alcatel Space in 1998, then Alcatel Alenia Space in 2005, the center is now part, since April 10, 2007, of Thales Alenia Space and the headquarters of the company.

Main products

As prime contractor

* the series of

Meteosat The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program. The MTP program was established to ensure the ope ...

first and second generation * the series of communication satellites

Spacebus Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and seventy-four have been launched since development started ...

* the series of Globalstar's second-generation satellites * the series of O3b satellites * the

Infrared Space Observatory The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was a space telescope for infrared light designed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with ISAS (now part of JAXA) and NASA. The ISO was designed to study infrared light at wavelengt ...

* the Huygens space probe, which landed on Titan * the

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...

series of small low earth orbit satellites, including ** the

COROT CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

satellite ** Jason-1, Jason-2 and Jason-3 ** the CALIPSO satellite * the

Planck spacecraft ''Planck'' was a space observatory operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2009 to 2013, which mapped the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at microwave and infrared frequencies, with high sensitivity and small angu ...

* the Herschel Space Observatory * ISS modules Node 2, Node 3,

Cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

, and the MPLM

As the main subcontractor

* the cameras for the French military observation satellites Helios-1 and Helios-2 * the IASI, Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer,the CNES web site
/ref> embarked on-board

Metop Metop (Meteorological Operational satellite) is a series of three polar-orbiting meteorological satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites ( ...

* the MERIS camera embarked on board the ENVISAT mission.

References

External links

*
See CASPWiki
Spacecraft manufacturers Privately held companies of France Space program of France {{Manufacturing-company-stub

Main products

As prime contractor

As the main subcontractor

See also

References

External links