Telesat is a Canadian satellite communications company and operator, providing connectivity solutions to telecom, government, and enterprise clients globally. They are currently developing Telesat Lightspeed, a low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation of 198 satellites designed for high-speed, low-latency broadband services. Telesat partners with companies like MDA Space, Orange, and Intellian for satellite manufacturing, terrestrial infrastructure, and user terminals. The company aims to begin launching satellites in 2026, with the constellation fully operational by 2027.
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Telesat selected Thales Alenia Space to build its broadband low Earth orbit constellation in 2022.
Maxar partnered with Thales Alenia Space in 2018 on a proposal to build Telesat’s broadband low Earth orbit constellation, but Thales Alenia and Maxar later split and pursued separate bids.
DARPA ordered 10 satellite buses for Blackjack from Blue Canyon Technologies and two satellite buses from Telesat.
DARPA has ordered two satellite buses from Telesat for the Blackjack program.
The report provides an update on Non-Geostationary Orbit Satellite (NGSO) systems, including the SpaceX Starlink constellation, Telesat, and OneWeb.
Ontario’s government provided Telesat a five-year investment agreement worth 109 million Canadian dollars less than a week before the federal Lightspeed financing package.
Telesat values the Lightspeed program at $5,000,000,000, or 6.3 billion Canadian dollars.
The Government of Canada will invest 1.44 billion Canadian dollars in Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation.
Telesat committed to invest 1 billion Canadian dollars of Lightspeed’s initial capital expenditures in Canada.
Telesat committed to spending 50% of the cost to deploy a second-generation Lightspeed constellation in Canada, or 2.6 billion Canadian dollars if that amount is lower.
Telesat will increase its Ontario-based staff by approximately 35%, growing to approximately 400 highly skilled jobs.
A dedicated Telesat Lightspeed capacity pool will be made available at substantially reduced rates to Canadian Internet service providers and mobile network operators to expand high-speed Internet and LTE/0.005 kg networks in Ontario’s unserved and underserved communities.
Telesat will invest $20,000,000 in capital expenditures for expansion of its Ontario facilities.
Telesat committed to investing 20 million Canadian dollars to build out facilities in Ontario, including a new gateway landing station and an expanded corporate headquarters.
As part of the deal reached 2021-08-06, Telesat will increase its Ontario-based staff by around 35% to about 400 highly skilled jobs.
Telesat raised $500,000,000 in debt in April to help fund Lightspeed’s estimated $5,000,000,000 cost.
Until Jupiter-3 is available, Hughes is using capacity from Telesat’s T-19 Vantage satellite to maintain service.
Based on ThinKom Ka2517 antenna performance and Telesat’s Lightspeed LEO network, downlink speeds are expected to reach up to 830 Mbps to a single aircraft.
Airlines can modify installed GEO-only Ka2517 antenna systems to interoperate with the Telesat Lightspeed LEO satellite constellation and existing GEO networks with a straightforward and inexpensive modification.
ThinKom expects hundreds of Ka-band aero Ka2517 antennas to be operating on GEO satellites when the Telesat Lightspeed network is ready to support commercial service.