Thales Alenia Space has won a contract from the European Space Agency to lead a nine-month study regarding satellite communications solutions for Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
The ESPRIT (Emerging system concepts for UAS command & control via satellite) study will focus on the provision of communication capacity for Command & Control (C2) links to Unmanned Aircraft flying through civilian airspace.
As the leader of an industrial consortium for ESPRIT, Thales Alenia Space will study solutions at both spectrum and system levels. To cover all aspects of the domain, its team includes major actors in the aeronautical satellite communications, UAS, space systems and regulatory issues.
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%). Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio embody the two groups’ “Space Alliance”. Thales Alenia Space sets the global standard in solutions for space telecommunications, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. With consolidated revenues of 2 billion euros in 2010, Thales Alenia Space has 7,200 employees at 10 industrial sites in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Belgium.
Source: Press Release