Thales
Alenia
Space
chosen
to
build
Athena-Fidus,
the
French-Italian
dual
telecommunications
system
February
10,
2010
Thales
Alenia
Space
has
signed
a
contract
with
the
French
and
Italian
space
agencies,
CNES
and
ASI,
to
develop,
construct,
test
and
deliver
in
orbit
a
broadband
civil
and
military
telecommunications
satellite,
Athena-Fidus.
The
Athena-Fidus
programme
(Access
on
theatres
for
European
allied
forces
nations-French
Italian
dual
use
satellite)
includes
a
geostationary
satellite
operating
in
the
Ka
and
EHF
bands,
and
its
associated
ground
control
segment.
It
will
employ
the
highest-performance
civil
communications
standards,
DVB-RCS
and
DBV-S2,
to
enhance
transmission
capacity
and
service
availability.
The
satellite
will
be
used
by
the
French
and
Italian
ministries
of
defence,
as
well
as
civil
security
agencies
in
these
countries,
including
homeland
security,
police
and
fire
departments.
Furthermore,
Athena-Fidus
will
complement
the
capabilities
already
offered
by
the
Syracuse
and
Sicral
systems.
The
Athena-Fidus
and
Sicral-2
programmes
are
the
first
European
cooperative
successes
in
the
Milsatcom
domain
and
pave
the
way
for
tomorrow’s
“Europe
of
Defence”;
Thales
Alenia
Space
is
also
a
major
partner
in
the
Sicral-2
programme.
According
to
Reynald
Seznec,
Thales
Alenia
Space
President
and
CEO:
“These
partnerships
enable
the
countries
to
share
the
fixed
costs
for
the
platform,
launch
service
and
ground
segment,
while
addressing
their
specific
needs
via
dedicated
payloads.”
Based
on a
Spacebus
4000
B2
platform,
the
Athena-Fidus
satellite
will
weigh
over
three
metric
tons
at
launch,
and
has
a
design
life
exceeding
15
years.
It
will
carry
two
payloads,
one
each
for
France
and
Italy.
The
satellite
should
be
launched
in
2013
by
Arianespace.
Reynald
Seznec
added:
“Our
collaboration
with
Telespazio,
via
the
Space
Alliance,
was
a
critical
factor
in
our
selection.
We
were
able
to
combine
the
top
skills
in
each
country,
in
particular
the
industrial
expertise
of
Thales
Alenia
Space
and
the
service
expertise
of
Telespazio.”
French
Space
Agency
CNES
is
managing
the
programme
in
France,
while
the
Italian
space
agency
ASI
is
responsible
for
the
programme
in
Italy.
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