The partnership aims to provide innovative communication services with high data rates from geostationary orbit
Hellas Sat and Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), have signed an agreement to jointly develop an optical communication payload for the upcoming new mission of the future Hellas Sat 5 telecommunications satellite, operating in geostationary orbit at 39 degrees East.
The partnership aims to provide innovative communication services with high data rates from geostationary orbit. The payload seeks to connect with the Optical Ground Stations of the National Athens Observatory in Greece, France, and ESA and with Thales Alenia Space’s LEO HydRON telecommunication satellite.
After the Vertigo H2020 programme, Thales Alenia Space is currently advancing the development of very high data rate capacities (up to 1 terabit/second) facing long distances from ground to geostationary orbit and cross-atmospheric turbulence, with support from France Relance (CO-OP), CNES (DYSCO) and ESA (HydRON).
Christodoulos Protopapas, CEO of Hellas Sat stated: “We are honored to work once again with Thales Alenia Space in the realm of optical communication technology, introducing the optical connectivity communication services to the European and International market thus effectively achieving the implementation of new technologies and sealing a new era.”
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Hellas Sat and all our partners to develop optical communications payload, a crucial step towards establishing a secure and very high data rate optical network. This marks the beginning of a new era in telecommunication services with a sustainable approach,” added Marc-Henri Serre, Executive Vice President of Telecommunications at Thales Alenia Space.
“Undoubtedly, this is a big step towards technological progress, which, in fact, strengthens the cooperation between Greece and France. The Hellas Sat 5 satellite, which is to be constructed, will provide us with new possibilities in fields such as early forecasting and the collection of scientific data,” said the Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias.
The signing ceremony took place at Hellas Sat’s headquarters in Athens, Greece, with representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the French embassy in Greece, ESA, CNES, Thales Alenia Space France, Italy and Switzerland, the National Athens Observatory, along with various Greek ministries and local authorities in attendance.
Free Space Optical laser Communications are emerging as a space standard, offering significantly greater capacities than current satcom systems (terabit/sec vs. gigabit/sec). This technology is poised to revolutionise space telecommunication infrastructure, similar to the impact of optical fibre on the ground.
ESA HydRON and CNES DYSCO projects target high throughput optical space links R&D and demonstrations, addressing challenges in providing connectivity to multiple users across different orbits, ground assets and applications. The system showcases the capabilities of the optical communication technology in end-to-end system implementations.
Various use cases include universal internet access, direct data transmission from observation satellites at any time, private links to the data centres and optical fibre redundancy on the ground in case of crises.
Introducing optical fibre in Space is expected to reduce the need for many satellites in orbit, contributing to the sustainability of space infrastructure and minimising sky pollution.
