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 plans to spend 215 million Canadian dollars on research and development over the next five years.
Telesat’s LEO satellites will be larger than OneWeb’s satellites, which weigh 150 kg, although Telesat has not provided an exact weight.
A second Telesat prototype developed by Maxar Technologies and the University of Toronto’s Space Flight Laboratory was lost during the November 2017 Soyuz failure.
Telesat had a prototype satellite in orbit from Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (an Airbus company) since January 2018.
The government of Canada committed a separate 600 million Canadian dollars to subsidize satellite capacity for Canadian buyers once the Telesat LEO constellation is operational.
SpaceX used the same first-stage booster that launched Amos-17 to launch Telstar-19 Vantage for Telesat in July 2018 and Es’hail-2 for Es’hailSat in November 2018.
The C-Band Alliance, composed of Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Telesat, proposed selling 200 megahertz of C-band spectrum primarily used for television broadcasting to companies seeking spectrum for 0.005 kg networks.
Telesat LEO will at a minimum match the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s target broadband speeds of 50 megabits per second downlink and 10 megabits per second uplink and will eventually reach gigabit speeds.
The Canadian government has agreed to spend up to 600 million Canadian dollars ($456,600,000) more on capacity for Telesat’s broadband satellite constellation.
Navdeep Bains expressed a preference for Telesat’s LEO satellites to be built in Canada, and Telesat’s manufacturing contenders have offered to build the satellites in Canada.
Airbus Defence and Space and a consortium led by Maxar Technologies and Thales Alenia Space view the Telesat LEO contract as a $3,000,000,000 opportunity.
Telesat will invest 215 million Canadian dollars over the next five years into research and development for its LEO constellation.
The partnership between Telesat and the Canadian government is estimated to generate 1.2 billion Canadian dollars ($913,000,000) over 10 years.
The Canadian government is investing 85 million Canadian dollars ($64,700,000) into research and development for Telesat’s broadband satellite constellation.
The Canadian government intends to buy Telesat LEO capacity for a 10-year period starting once Telesat LEO is in service.
Telesat plans to begin offering regional service that will include Canada in 2022 and to begin global service in 2023.
Telesat is working with manufacturing partners to finalize a low Earth orbit broadband constellation design.
Telesat is planning a constellation of 300 satellites and anticipates choosing a manufacturer 2019.
Telesat plans a 300-satellite constellation estimated to provide 8 terabits of useful capacity.
Telesat wants to have 300 satellites in orbit in 2023 about six to eight months after reaching 200 satellites.