Electric Propulsion Satellites
Leading the race
Electric propulsion makes it possible to reduce the mass of satellites, leading to lower launch costs for a given mission and/or a more capable satellite for a given mass. Airbus Defence and Space has been using electric propulsion for station keeping for more than ten years, and is building the first large satellites using only electric propulsion for initial orbit raising. A key element is the use of reliable solutions that keep overall system costs under control and reduce the duration of orbit raising.
| 6 All-Electric satellites |
40% Saving |
| under construction |
on launch mass |
| 100% |
Launcher compatibility |
| 50% Our recent orders | equipped with electric propulsion |
A Full-Electric Orbit raising solution
2 Large and Powerful missions on the same satellite:
- A high power broadcast mission
- A flexible fixed services mission with a multibeam processed payload
- The Most Powerful Satellite ever ordered by SES
- Currently under construction
- Combining power and flexibility
- A wide-beam payload of C and Ku-band, covering the Americas plus a link to Europe. Another payload, the High Throughput Satellite (HTS) one, with numerous user beams to combine an on-board processor with multi-beam coverage of the Americas and the North Atlantic
- Electric Propulsion enables Airbus Defence and Space to combine two conventional satellites in one satellite
The first high-power satellite in the 3 tons class. This Airbus Defence and Space innovative and high-performance satellite will host three distinct payloads: a C-band payload, a regular Ku-band payload and a high throughput HTS payload.
See also
Satellite Telecommunication missions and applications
Sharing access to space offers large cost reductions for both payload customer and hosting spacecraft operator.
Airbus Defence and Space has considerable expertise in this field, having worked on more than 20 hosted payloads over the two last decades, for commercial and institutional users, civil and military missions. This encompasses a wide range of applications and service requirements for operation in LEO as well as in GEO.
Hosted Payloads: Capabilities and Opportunities
Satellites privileged position up in orbit means that they can deliver a whole host of applications, without borders and without blind spots.
Satellites provide the connectivity we need, to keep us in touch, to keep us informed, to keep us entertained – and, in emergency situations, to keep us safe.
How does a Telecommunications Satellite work?
How do the signals travel? How are frequency bands chosen? What’s special about geostationary orbit?
A communications satellite works like a relay station: signals transmitted by the ground stations are picked up by the satellite’s receiver antennas, the signals are filtered, their frequency changed and amplified, and then routed via the transmit antennas back down to Earth.