SES Astra and Verhaert Space received a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to maintain and operate a satellite ground station in Redu, Belgium, the companies announced June 15.

To perform work under a 10-year contract, Verhaert, part of QinetiQ, and SES Astra’s Belgian subsidiary, SES Astra TechCom, have created a joint venture dubbed Redu Space Services, which will offer satellite and operations services to third party customers.

Financial details of the contract were not released.

Separately, SES Astra signed an agreement with U.K. broadcast provider ITV to provide additional satellite capacity aboard the Astra 2C satellite, SES Astra announced June 14. ITV previously had leased five-and-a-half transponders aboard the spacecraft and now will increase that to six transponders. Astra 2C is scheduled to moved from 19.2° East to 28.2° East to fulfill demand from the U.K. and Irish markets, SES Astra said.