VIA SATELLITE: What trends do you see in terms of satellite capability?
Dudok: Orbital slots are now somewhat limited, so there will be an important need to bring as much capacity as possible in those slots. Where countries want to have an independent information or communications source, a small satellite can be vital in areas such as Earth observation. This could be a direction to go. Also, you have the idea of hosted payloads. I think this is a market that will be growing. I think there will be opportunities in terms of fixed satellites but also in terms of small satellite for countries wanting independent capability.
VIA SATELLITE: Do you think we will see more hosted payload activity in Europe?
Dudok: We don’t know yet, but given the high level of investment needed for a satellite, launch services, the rationale for sharing costs and combining assets maybe a great opportunity. That is an attractive idea. It definitely seems to be a growing market.
VIA SATELLITE: What would represent a good 12 months for Astrium Satellites?
Dudok: On the telecoms side, we would acquire at least four satellites this year. The major decisions for us are in the field public and institutional procurements. You have Galileo with 28 satellites. You have the 1.6 billion euro ($2.4 billion) Meteosat project. Galileo and Meteosat are very important and substantial decisions. In France, we have the Helios system and the CSO system, which is the follow-up Earth observation system. This will be very important for us. These opportunities come once every three-to-four years. This will be differentiating factor for us next year.
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