Madrid, October 2^nd, 2017 – Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KARI, to deliver the communications equipment for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter mission (KPLO), a lunar probe scheduled for launch on December 2020. These equipment will be in charge of transmitting back to Earth the data collected by the instruments on-board the orbiter.

KPLO is the first step of the Korean Lunar Exploration Program. The main objectives of KPLO are to secure the necessary basic technology for space exploration, to establish a deep space telecommunications network and to develop cutting edge technologies for specialized scientific exploration payloads. The mission will have six payloads, including a 5m high-resolution camera, a wide-field polarized camera, a magnetic field sensor, a gamma ray sensor, space internet test equipment and a ShadowCam.

“The signing of this contract reaffirms the confidence that KARI, one of the world’s leading space agencies, places on the experience and reliability of Thales Alenia Space, both in equipment manufacturing and in the integration of payloads and subsystems,” said Eduardo Bellido, CEO of Thales Alenia Space in Spain. “It’s a great satisfaction for us to contribute to the success of a scientific mission as important to South Korea as the Korean Lunar Exploration Program,” he added.

Thales Alenia Space recently received from KARI the Excellence Award as outstanding supplier as a result of the close collaboration between the two entities in the recent GEO-KOMPSAT-2 program, in which Thales Alenia Space delivered three communications panels integrated and tested in its facilities in Spain.

Thales Alenia Space is also providing telecommunication equipment to the TeamIndus Moon mission, one of the finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE^® competition. TeamIndus is a private space exploration company out of India, building a spacecraft to land on the Moon in early 2018. The Spacecraft will deploy a Rover that will travel at least 500 meters, and transmit high-definition video and images back to Earth.


About Thales Alenia Space in Spain

Thales Alenia Space is well represented in Spain and is the country’s leading space company in export markets, with over 28 years of experience in the design, development and sale of advanced space systems and equipment. It has contributed to more than 500 satellites, space probes and vehicles used in telecommunications, Earth observation, science, exploration, navigation and orbital infrastructure missions. Thales Alenia Space in Spain offers a wide range of solutions spanning the design and integration of payloads and subsystems for telecommunications, data transmission and TT&C (tracking, telemetry and command), optical observation instruments, radiofrequency equipment, data processing and digital electronics, and network management systems for the ground segment.


About Thales Alenia Space

Combining 40 years of experience and a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, Thales Alenia Space architects design and deliver high technology solutions for telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation, environmental management, exploration, science and orbital infrastructures. Governments, institutions and companies rely on Thales Alenia Space to design, operate and deliver satellite-based systems that help them position and connect anyone or anything, everywhere, help observe our planet, help optimize the use of our planet's – and our solar system’s – resources. Thales Alenia Space believes in space as humankind’s new horizon, which will enable to build a better, more sustainable life on Earth. A joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), Thales Alenia Space also teams up with Telespazio to form the parent companies’ Space Alliance, which offers a complete range of services and solutions. Thales Alenia Space posted consolidated revenues of about 2.4 billion euros in 2016 and has 7,980 employees in nine countries. www.thalesaleniaspace.com


Thales Alenia Space Press Contacts:

Sandrine Bielecki
Phone: +33 (0)4 92 92 70 94
sandrine.bielecki@thalesaleniaspace.com

Chrystelle Dugimont
Phone: +33 (0)4 92 92 74 06
chrystelle.dugimont@thalesaleniaspace.com

Cinzia Marcanio
Phone: +39 (0)6 41 51 26 85
cinzia.marcanio@thalesaleniaspace.com