Telesat’s LEO constellation orbit. Photo: Telesat

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales and Leonardo, and SSL (a Maxar Technologies company), will pursue the development and manufacture of Telesat‘s global Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation and end-to-end system. In addition, Telesat has awarded the consortium led by Thales Alenia Space for a system design and risk management project for the Telesat LEO constellation.

The three companies will work together on the design of the end-to-end system, including satellites, gateways, user terminals, operations centers, and ground network. Telesat will provide funding during this phase and anticipates selecting a prime contractor — either the Thales Alenia Space and Maxar consortium or an alternate team — in mid-2019 for Telesat’s LEO program’s space segment, ground segment, and system integration.

Telesat’s LEO constellation’s capabilities will be available globally, helping to accelerate 5G expansion, provide fiber-like high speed services in rural and remote communities, and establish new levels of performance for commercial and government broadband on land, sea, and in air.