Telesat picks Thales Alenia Space to build US$5 billion ‘Lightspeed’ LEO satellite constellation

It will come as no surprise that Telesat has picked Thales Alenia Space as the prime contractor to build its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. The selection was hinted at last summer in comments by Maxar CEO Dan Jablonsky. Artist illustration of Telesat Lightspeed satellite. Credit: Telesat. The constellation of 298 satellites is now called Lightspeed. Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said the name "underscores the essential speed advantages inherent to Telesat’s LEO design." The value of the deal to Thales Alenia Space is approximately US$3 billion, while the overall investment Telesat is making in the project is US$5 billion. During a press conference, Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said the first launches are expected in "roughly two years." "We're gonna have a lot of launches. That'll be the first when the factory is up and running. Thales Alenia Space will be producing on average around one satellite a day, which is quite remarkable given how advanced and capable the satellites are." Without going into details, Goldberg said in response to a question by SpaceQ, that Canadian businesses will be part of the supply chain with further announcements forthcoming. Initial beta service will be available in the Arctic by mid-2023, and commercial services starting in the second half of 2023. Goldberg said "full global service will be available in the second half of 2024." https://vimeo.com/505317227 Telesat Lightspeed satellite animation. Credit: Telesat. Telesat said it had hired nearly 100 new people in 2020 and will hire at least that many more this year, with many located in the Ottawa area, though working virtually to start. As we previously reported, Blue Origin will be one of the launch providers, though others will be announced in due course. Blue Origin has yet to conduct a test flight of is New Glenn rocket. Another launch provider previously mentioned was Relativity Space. In responding to another question on coming to the market later than some of its competitors and the revenue generated by the Canadian market versus the rest of the world, Goldberg said "with our inter satellite links, we're gonna have an advantage, particularly in serving the government market, the aero market, the maritime market. So yeah, I'm not, you know, particularly troubled in terms of not necessarily the first to market, you'd rather, I think, be timely to market with the best solution, which is the path that I think that we're on. As far as the mix of Canada and the rest of the world, Canada will be a significant market for us. But but but still a meaningful minority in terms of our overall expected revenues." The "inter satellite links" Goldberg was referring to are the 1,200 high capacity optical communication links, four on each satellite, that will allow the satellites to communicate with each other "at the speed of light." With respect to going public on the stock market, Goldberg said "we will have our public listing sort of mid this year, probably at some point over the summer." Telesat provided the following list of features for the constellation which will operate at a little over 1,000 km in low Earth orbit. Sophisticated phased array antennas on each satellite that are combined with advanced beam hopping technology to create approximately 135,000 beams that can dynamically focus multiple Gbps of capacity – an order of magnitude higher than any other system – into demand hot spots like remote communities, large airports or major sea ports;Nearly 1,200 high capacity optical links – four on each satellite – that combine to create a first-ever, highly resilient, flexible and secure space-based IP network, moving data across the network and around the world at the speed of light;Data processing in space, including full digital modulation and demodulation on the satellite, coupled with a revolutionary end-to-end network operating system, that improves link performance and gives customers unprecedented flexibility for routing traffic across the globe, eliminating gateway hops for the fastest, most secure, end-to-end delivery of data; andA patent-pending architecture for the constellation of satellites, which features satellites operating in both polar and inclined orbital planes. This results in true pole-to-pole global coverage, concentrating capacity in areas where it is most needed to maximize network efficiency and achieve superior unit cost economics. Telesat Lightspeed specs. Credit: Telesat.