117: the number of satellites ordered from Thales Alenia Space for three telecom constellations in low or medium Earth orbit: Globalstar (24 second-generation satellites), O3b (12 satellites to date), Iridium NEXT (81 satellites).
117 satellites, 3 constellations, 1 prime contractor: Thales Alenia Space
With a total of 117 satellites ordered to date, Thales Alenia Space is the world leader in telecommunications constellations, a position that was recently bolstered with the successful launch of the third batch of O3b satellites on December 18, 2014. The company O3b Networks launched the O3b program to reduce the digital divide, by providing broadband telecom services to emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Thales Alenia Space built the 12 satellites in the constellation, now operational in orbit.
117 satellites, 3 constellations, 1 platform: EliTeBUS
Designed by Thales Alenia Space to handle payloads exceeding 500 kg, with 2,000 watts of power, the EliTeBUS platform, validated in orbit, is easily adaptable to a wide variety of missions, including clusters of special satellites or constellations in low or medium orbit. Thales Alenia Space capitalized on its expertise in constellations to offer EliTeBUS, a high-performance, agile and flexible platform which is extremely cost competitive.
Stay tuned to Thales Alenia Space for our next episode of "Space by the Numbers".