Space remains a hot place for deal-making with Arianespace and Inmarsat announcing they’ve signed recent deals for new launchers and telemetry systems. Arianespace, the European launch services company, announced the signing of an agreement with Avio, industrial prime contractor for the Vega and Vega C launchers, to start production of a batch of 10 new Vega C rockets, to be launched as from 2023.
“Arianespace is delighted to have signed this agreement with our long-standing partner Avio, confirming the ramp-up of Vega C, in particular to meet European government requirements,” said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace. “Through this long-term supply, Arianespace kicks off its order for a fourth batch of Vega launchers, the first comprising only upgraded Vega C launchers. A number of European Earth observation and science programs, most notably Copernicus, will fully benefit from the greater competitiveness of Vega C. More than ever, Vega is establishing its role as the second pillar of Europe’s space access capabilities, along with Ariane.”
Vega C launchers produced within Batch 4 will serve institutional and commercial missions from 2023 onwards; in particular, they will contribute to the fulfilment of strategic objectives selected by European institutions, either collectively through ESA and the European Commission, or for national purposes. That means 2021 will see the contracting by Arianespace of launch services for the next nine Copernicus satellites within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 of the European Commission.
Meanwhile, Inmarsat announced that the UK Space Agency has awarded a National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) contract to the company to develop an in-orbit telemetry relay service for rockets called “InRange”. Inmarsat’s InRange service will reduce the dependency of space launch providers on traditional, expensive ground-based monitoring systems infrastructure for their rockets and will provide a more cost-effective, flexible solution, available globally via Inmarsat’s geostationary L-band satellite network. The contract is valued at £258,000 (US$357,846) with matched funding from industry taking the project total to £422,096.
Inmarsat is working with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to ensure the InRange service develops to meet the challenging environmental conditions experienced by launch vehicles. Safran Data Systems (France) and Haigh-Farr Inc. (USA) are also partners in this project and focus on the L-band transmitter and antenna design.
Nick Shave, vice president of Strategic Programmes at Inmarsat Global Government, said: “Inmarsat’s highly robust L-band satellite network is ideal to provide telemetry services for launch providers globally. The space launch market is an exciting new sector for our network and team to work on. This innovative project will allow us to solve problems and create efficiencies in the design of a reliable and secure telemetry solution for launch service providers and launch site operators.”
For Editorial Inquiries Contact:
Editor Matt Driskill at matt.driskill@asianaviation.com
For Advertising Inquiries Contact:
Head of Sales Kay Rolland at kay.rolland@asianaviation.com
