The Canadian operator Telesat will ultimately not call on the Franco-Italian group to build its future constellation of satellites.
The Canadian operator Telesat has changed prime contractor to build its future constellation of telecommunications satellites, opting for its compatriot MDA at the expense of the Franco-Italian Thales Alenia Space chosen in 2021, the company announced on Friday. “Space technology company MDA will build 198 advanced satellites for the Telesat Lightspeed low Earth orbit program,” according to a statement.
This choice will allow “anticipated total savings of around 2 billion US dollars on the capital costs of the program compared to Telesat’s previous estimate”, justifies the company, which now says it has its project “fully financed until it is put into worldwide service”.
298 satellites
It has been an about-face since the announcement in February 2021 of the choice of Thales Alenia Space to build Lightspeed, originally planned for 298 satellites. The launch of the service on a global scale was planned for 2024 for a total cost estimated at 5 billion dollars. But the project had since been struggling, out of funding. Asked by AFP, Thales Alenia Space said “to take note of Telesat’s decision”.
“Thales Alenia Space has honored all contracts awarded by Telesat over the past four years” but its offer for Lightspeed “expired some time ago: it was mutually agreed that progress in financing the program were necessary to relaunch the discussions”, added the Franco-Italian group. “The success of such an ambitious project results from complex trade-offs between technological choices, public/political support and funding schemes,” he commented.
By choosing MDA, a Canadian specialist in payloads for satellites, Telesat says it is benefiting from “technological advances”, making it possible to build smaller satellites while maintaining performance. The satellites will be built in Montreal at MDA.
Expected in 2027
Telesat now claims to have the necessary funding, with “Canadian government commitments at the federal and provincial levels of a combined amount of up to approximately US$2 billion”, in addition to the US$1.6 billion the operator is investing and “certain supplier financing”. This will ensure the global launch of the service, scheduled for 2027, with 156 satellites. The constellation will be completed with the income generated.
The total cost of the constellation, including launch services and ground stations, is estimated at $3.5 billion. With this project, Telesat, operator for half a century of geostationary satellites, is in turn embarking on the battle for constellations in low orbit, facing Starlink (Space X), Kuiper (Amazon) and OneWeb, on the market of broadband connection.
