From September 30 to October 2, 2015, Thales Alenia Space welcomed Jorge Bittar, Chairman and CEO of Telebras, Paulo Kapp, Chief Technology Officer of Telebras, and Eduardo Bonini, Chairman and CEO of Visiona. The Brazilian delegation visited Toulouse and Cannes plants to meet the people involved in the SGDC program, and see the latest progress on this satellite, now undergoing integration.

SGDC © Master Image Programmes

The three senior execs also saluted the 40 Brazilian engineers who have been involved in the SGDC program at Thales Alenia Space, within the scope of the skills transfer plan agreed by the partners. These 40 resident engineers – under contract to Visiona, Telebras, Brazilian space agency AEB, the national space research institute INPE and the Brazilian ministry of defense – have been in training for the last 18 months, and have followed each step in the SGDC project, in conjunction with their French counterparts from Thales Alenia Space. Building on the skills and expertise they have acquired in France, they are set to play a pivotal role, in the medium term, in the development of a space industry in Brazil, which will gradually develop and consolidate its independence and sovereignty in this sector.