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Thales Alenia Space to Supply Digital Processor for Korea’s GEO-Kompsat-3 Satellite

By Mark Holmes | January 31, 2022

Korea’s GEO-Kompsat-3 satellite. Photo: ETRI

Thales Alenia Space has won a contract from South Korean aerospace manufacturer and defense company LIG Nex1 to provide a digital processor for the GEO-Kompsat-3 (Geostationary Earth Orbit Korea Multipurpose Satellite 3) communications satellite. Thales Alenia Space in Spain is responsible for the digital processor specification, design, development, assembly, integration and test and delivery, the company announced Monday.

Scheduled for launch in 2027, GEO-Kompsat-3 is a multi-band communications satellite that will provide broadband satellite communication services in the Korean Peninsula and surrounding maritime areas, ensuring service continuity of COMS-1 satellite, currently in operations in-orbit. It will support the Korea Coast Guard satellite communications for national maritime rescue and protection; secure stable information on monitoring water disasters in mountains, rivers and dams to the Ministry of Environment; and provide the Ministry of Science and ICT with a satellite communication system for emergency response to disaster situations, as well as with an advanced testbed for domestic satellite communication research activities.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of Korea is responsible for the satellite payloads, while the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is responsible for the satellite platform.

“This contract confirms the worldwide leading position and ability of Thales Alenia Space to match the evolving needs in the satellite communications market, providing competitive solutions both in the areas of transparent and regenerative on-board digital processing and opens a new chapter in the long success story between our company and South Korea,” said Stéphane Terranova, CEO of Thales Alenia Space in Spain.