Thales Alenia Space recently signed two agreements. The first contract, unveiled on April 9, was signed with the American startup Omnispace. Its goal is to develop a global communication network for mobiles, combining the sector’s terrestrial networks and a constellation of satellites in low or medium orbit. Thales Alenia Space will supply the first two nanosatellites, which will be placed in low orbit in 2021.

The second contract, announced on April 27, was signed with the Italian company Avio, as part of the Leap (Launchers Exploitation and Accompaniment Program) of the European Space Agency. Thales will be providing a TDRS telemetry transmitter for the European light launcher Vega. It is for initial design, development and qualification phases. Based on the transfer of data by geostationary satellites, this transmitter aims to improve the telemetry system of the launcher, in terms of cost and performance.

CHINA’S SPACE PLANS

China launched a successful pivotal new rocket from the Wenchang launch site in southern China. The rocket was carrying a prototype deep-space spacecraft. For safety, no one had taken place on board the spacecraft because of its experimental nature. Their goal is to transport astronauts to the future space station and make manned flights to the Moon. 

THREE LANDER FUNDED MANNED PROJECTS BY NASA LUNAR

The 3 companies are going to work for ten months on a manned landing system, and will distribute nearly a billion dollars.

Objective 2024: a return to the Moon. After the call for candidates for the development and demonstration of an HLS manned landing system capable of placing astronauts on the lunar surface, NASA chose Dynetics, National Team and SpaceX.

Dynetics, the highest rated project, will receive an envelope of $ 253 million. They are offering a compact housing module, capable of both descending to the lunar surface and ascending to the circumlunar orbit.

The National Team will benefit from the largest funding, namely $ 579 million. They are considering a module similar to the Blue Moon lander from Blue Origin, presented for the first time in May 2019.

SpaceX, the project considered to be the most risky, will receive $ 135 million. Their project is based on their monolithic megalancer Starship.