Telecommunications satellites
Airbus Defence and Space is a world leader in communications satellites
Providing its customers, including the world’s top operators, with tailored solutions for the full range of capabilities and missions, Airbus Defence and Space is a global player in the design and manufacture of exceptionally reliable, high performance telecommunications satellites
| 104 | Geo satellites delivered |
| 55 | Geo satellites currently in operation |
| 7 | World's top operators served |
| No lost in orbit | Eurostar satellites |
Eurostar series
Arabsat 6B, the seventh Eurostar satellite from Airbus Defence and Space to the Arab Satellite Communications Organisation, in Airbus facilities in Toulouse.
A product of choice with major operators worldwide, the Eurostar series of high-performance communications satellites is suited to all communications missions, is compatible with the whole range of launch vehicles and is the benchmark in the industry for in-orbit reliability on the market.
Leading the race in flexible payload products
From frequency/bandwidth to power allocation and coverage, Airbus Defence and Space payload products offer flexibility in all domains to satisfy the customers' applications and business needs.
- Eutelsat Quantum
With phased array antennas and flexible connectivity (fully reconfigurable in orbit), Quantum will be the first generation of universal satellites, able to adjust its coverage and capacity to suit customers’ needs as and when they change.
- Inmarsat-6 F1 and F2
Inmarsat-6 F1 and F2 will feature high levels of flexibility and connectivity. A new generation modular digital processor will provide full routing flexibility over up to 8000 channels and dynamic power allocation to over 200 spot beams in L-band.
- SES-12 / SES-14
Both SES-12 and SES-14 embark flexible fixed services missions with a multibeam processed payload.
Low-Earth orbit products: constellations
Building hundreds of satellites for large constellations (900 satellites to be produced for OneWeb) requires totally new approaches. From satellite design-to-cost, production of equipment and satellite assembly, integration and testing, this means a revolution in space design and manufacturing. Airbus Defence and Space is innovating in all fields to tackle this unprecedented industrial challenge in the space industry to dramatically lower the cost in large volumes for high performance space applications.
See also
Secure communications systems for government users
Supplier of the French Ministry of Defence for its next generation milsatcom system, Airbus Defence and Space has also been selected by a number of countries throughout the globe to provide their military space telecommunications assets.
Satellite telecommunication missions and applications
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.
Hosted payloads: capabilities and opportunities
Sharing access to space offers large cost reductions for both the 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 low-Earth orbit (LEO) as well as in geostationary orbit (GEO).
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.
ODA project: In-Orbit demonstration by Airbus - ESA Pioneer Programme
A “one-stop shop” for the demonstration of new services and proof-of-concept technologies is now available from Airbus through a multi-mission, low cost and high-performance enabler capability in low-Earth orbit. Read more