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’s planned low-Earth-orbit constellation of 300 satellites will include optical inter-satellite links.
Telesat and Claro have too little C-band business over North America to warrant ordering replacement satellites.
Telesat is a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin for the Space Development Agency program and will provide technical advice to Lockheed Martin on the use of optical crosslinks to connect satellites on orbit.
The $3,300,000,000 to $5,200,000,000 in bidder-covered costs are separate from $9,700,000,000 in accelerated clearing payments available to Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat and Claro if they clear spectrum by early December 2023 instead of early December 2025.
Telesat is planning a constellation of 300 LEO internet satellites and has urged the FCC to consider its future system for RDOF funds.
Maxar and Thales Alenia Space terminated their collaboration on the Telesat LEO architecture in late 2019.
Maxar received a study contract from Telesat two years ago to design an architecture for the Telesat LEO broadband constellation with then-partner Thales Alenia Space.
A procurement decision for the Telesat LEO constellation, originally expected in mid-2019, remains delayed.
Telesat expects its future LEO constellation to start service in 2022.
DARPA intends that the U.S. Defense Department can modify a Telesat LEO satellite bus to accommodate Blackjack payload inserts and thermal requirements.
Maxar is evaluating ways to apply the satellite bus it designed for Telesat LEO to other commercial constellations and to defense and intelligence customers.
Telesat and Airbus Defence and Space have received study contracts to design potential spacecraft buses for Blackjack.
Maxar Technologies no longer expects, at least initially, to win any manufacturing contracts for Telesat’s planned roughly 300-satellite broadband megaconstellation called Telesat LEO.
DARPA is considering using whatever satellite bus Telesat selects as a potential bus for the Blackjack program.
Project Kuiper joins SpaceX, Telesat, OneWeb, and potentially Viasat in competing to provide high-speed broadband from low Earth orbit using large numbers of satellites.
Global Eagle’s top unsecured creditors include SES ($26,600,000), Intelsat ($9,800,000), Yahsat ($3,600,000), Hughes Network Systems ($3,100,000), Telesat ($2,500,000), Arabsat ($1,000,000), and AsiaSat ($960,000).
Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat, and Claro are estimated to be worthy of $3,000,000,000 to $5,000,000,000 in subsidized replacement C-band infrastructure and eligible for up to $9,700,000,000 in incentives if they clear customers out of the spectrum by early December 2023.
Eutelsat disclosed the satellite need in its C-band transition plan, a document the FCC required from Eutelsat, Intelsat, SES, Telesat, and Claro by 2020-06-19.
The FCC estimates moving costs for Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat, and Embratel Star One will be $3,000,000,000 to $5,000,000,000 to cover upgrading ground systems and building and launching replacement satellites.
Telesat has not selected a manufacturer to build its full LEO constellation and does not expect to start limited service any sooner than 2022.