OTTAWA — Global satellite operator Telesat announced today it has selected Thales Alenia Space to be the prime manufacturer of Telesat’s forthcoming low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network, which will be named Lightspeed, the company also unveiled today.
The US$3 billion contract with Thales Alenia is just a piece of the planned US$5 billion total Lightspeed project.
The Lightspeed broadband satellite network will be comprised initially of a fleet of 298 next-generation satellites integrated with an advanced ground network. Operating under Telesat’s global Ka-band priority spectrum rights, the first Lightspeed satellites are expected to be launched in approximately two years, with customer beta testing beginning shortly thereafter and commercial services commencing in the second half of 2023, Telesat says in its press release.
Lightspeed’s innovative design has been optimized to serve the fast-growing broadband connectivity requirements of fixed and mobile network operators, aeronautical and maritime users, enterprise customers and governments, the company says. In other words, the company is not going direct to consumer the way others, such as Starlink, are.
“Lightspeed is the most technologically capable satellite communications network in history and exploits the latest advances in space-based data processing, laser communications, digital antenna technology and machine learning,” said Dan Goldberg, president and CEO of Telesat, in the press release.
Telesat says Lightspeed will provide fibre-like connectivity around the world at price points that allow network operators to efficiently and economically enhance their network coverage, performance, and profitability.
“Designed with a deep understanding of the bandwidth intensive applications and cloud-based network connectivity that users require, Lightspeed will eliminate the hurdles that telecommunications service providers face today when incorporating satellite into their networks,” reads the press release.
Lightspeed satellites incorporate the following technologies and features:
- Sophisticated phased array antennas on each satellite, combined with advanced beam-hopping technology to create approximately 135,000 beams that can dynamically focus multiple Gbps (gigabits per second) of capacity — an order of magnitude higher than any other system, Telesat says — into demand hot spots such as remote communities, large airports or major sea ports;
- Almost 1,200 high-capacity optical links (four on each satellite) which combine to create a first-ever, highly resilient, flexible and secure space-based IP network, moving data across the network and around the world at the speed of light;
- Data processing in space, including full digital modulation and demodulation on the satellite, coupled with an end-to-end network operating system, which improves link performance and gives customers unprecedented flexibility for routing traffic across the globe, eliminating gateway hops for the fastest, most secure, end-to-end delivery of data, Telesat says; and
- A patent-pending architecture for the satellite constellation, which features satellites operating in both polar and inclined orbital planes. This results in true pole-to-pole global coverage, concentrating capacity in areas where it is most needed to maximize network efficiency and achieve superior unit cost economics, Telesat says.
In addition, Telesat is developing end-user terminals, with a range of antennas and modems optimized for each of the market verticals that will be served by the Lightspeed broadband network. Lightspeed leverages industry-wide network interface standards to enable simple, seamless integration with customers’ terrestrial networks, without requiring the integration of proprietary hardware or software, says Telesat.
For more, please click here. For the satellites’ specs, please see below.
