“It's a huge source of pride for the team, for Thales Alenia Space (TAS) and also, I think, for Eutelsat.
»
Payload project manager for the Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite in Toulouse, Laurent Saussot does not hide his enthusiasm for the teamwork achieved.
“This required all the strengths of TAS and Thales in general, with the involvement of all the entities, in Spain, Belgium, Italy and France.
"
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The manufacture of the Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite, intended to provide broadband in Europe, the engineering phase of which lasted a year and a half, represented a real challenge, due to its size and complexity.
The payload
,
equipped with a processor, is in fact made up of a thousand pieces of equipment weighing 1.7 tonnes
.
The largest telecoms satellite ever designed by Thales Alenia Space.
Broadband at the price of fiber
“It's a technical feat,
assures Laurent Saussot
.
We had never made such a big 5G digital processor for example.
All parts of the payload have been tested and assembled in Toulouse.
»
After the delivery of this equipment to Cannes on Friday August 6, the service and communication modules were assembled on Monday August 9.
Further tests must now be carried out on solar panels, antenna reflectors and various devices to ensure their proper functioning in extreme conditions.
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While it is due to be put into service in 2022,
“this new generation satellite is at the service of digital access,
underlines Arlen Kassighian, director of satellite engineering and operations
. It will allow us to offer broadband to several hundred thousand homes across Europe, at prices and speeds comparable to fiber. It will offer a complement to the terrestrial internet whereas 40% of the premises are not fiber-optic in France for example. "
