Thales Alenia Space and The EU Agency for Space Programme Sign a First EGNOS Contract

Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announced today that it has signed its first contract with the EU Agency for Space Programme (EUSPA), to provide new capabilities to Europe’s EGNOS satellite navigation system.

With this contract, Thales Alenia Space will start the development for Europe of a new EGNOS version introducing a new generation uplink station (NLES, Navigation Land Earth Station) allowing the introduction of new GEO satellites in the system for improved redundancy. This new generation of station would be also compatible with the future emission of Dual Frequency & Multi-Constellation messages (i.e. future introduction of dual frequency algorithms and usage of the Galileo and GPS constellations).

“Today’s contract signature bolsters Thales Alenia Space leadership position in SBAS and satellite navigation. Supported by a strong R&D activity, we are currently developing and testing with success SBAS next generation architectures and capabilities. The strong dynamic we experience on our SBAS export markets in Asia, Africa & Indian Ocean demonstrate our solution global attractiveness for our customers” said Benoit Broudy, Navigation Vice President at Thales Alenia Space in France.