On May 11th 2015, Thales Alenia Space’s Cannes plant welcomed the Brazilian Minister of Defense, Mr Jacques Wagner. The Brazilian delegation, including Mr Eduardo Bonini, CEO of Visiona, visited the facilities where the SGDC dual communications satellite is being manufactured, supported by the French government via the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA).

A trip into the Clean Rooms

Mr Jacques Wagner visited the clean rooms and was really impressed by Thales Alenia Space’s expertise in terms of communications satellite manufacturing and by its know-how regarding both radar and very High-Resolution Earth Observation satellites; not to mention altimetry, a field in which Thales Alenia Space is the world leader. Actually, this technology gives the sound profile velocity versus depth of the acoustic waves in the marine environment, and therefore, that enables to get information regarding the waves propagation very useful for the detection of submarines targets. For a country such as Brazil, that is entering in Submarines nuclear worldwide family, altimetry is a key solution.

The delegation had the opportunity to appreciate a wide range of satellites among which: 2 Sentinel environment satellites on behalf of the European Space Agency, the ExoMars TGO dedicated to the 2016 mission, the Jason-3 operational oceanography satellite as well as the Eutelsat 8WB communications satellite. The delegation also visited the Operations Control Center that will manage all the in-orbit operations following the launch of SGDC, scheduled in September 2016. And yet, the minister met the 31 Brazilian engineers trained locally at Thales Alenia Space, within the scope of the technology transfer plan that is part of the SGDC contract. The Minister was very pleased by the hand-to-hand cooperation existing between Thales Alenia Space and the Brazilian residents. He highlighted the importance of this mission for Brazil, that will benefit from this experience to develop its own space industry in the years to come.

Brazil and Thales Alenia Space, a win-win relationship

SGDC

In 2013, Thales Alenia Space won the contract to build the SGDC dual satellite for Visiona. It also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Brazilian space agency AEB concerning technology transfers, a major first step in the planned ambitious partnership between Thales Alenia Space, AEB and the Brazilian space industry.

Concrete actions:

- A tripartite framework contract signed by Thales Alenia Space, AEB and local Brazilian companies, to quickly implement contracts based on technology transfers.

- A "knowledge transfer" agreement, in the form of a "Space Academy", entailing the following actions:

• Support for Brazilian universities to set up space system engineering master's programs.
• The creation of a "Space Chair" at ITA (Instituto Tecnológica da Aeronáutica).
• Financing of doctoral theses in special cases.
• Joint studies by Thales Alenia Space and Brazilian labs.
• 40 Brazilian engineers trained at Thales Alenia Space, within the scope of the technology transfer plan that is part of the SGDC contract.

In March 2015, Thales Alenia Space and Omnisys inaugurated the joint Centro Tecnológico Espacial (Space Technology Center) in the São José dos Campos technology park in Brazil. This center will initially support the development of technological partnerships with local space companies. It clearly reflects Thales Alenia Space's strategy of being the favored partner in the development of Brazil's space industry, and continuing actions implemented within the scope of the contract for the SGDC dual telecom satellite, won in 2013.

Legend of the first photo :
From left to right: Jean-Loïc Galle (Thales Alenia Space CEO), Jacques Wagner (Brazilian Minister of Defense), Eduardo Bonini (Visiona CEO) and Ruben Lazo (VP Thales Latin America).