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.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Airbus Defence and Space and the Maxar–Thales Alenia Space team expressed willingness to establish factories in Canada to build Telesat’s satellites.
As of 2019-05-02, Airbus Defence and Space and a Maxar Technologies–Thales Alenia Space team had nearly finalized designs and planned to submit proposals to Telesat in the coming months.
Airbus Defence and Space and a Maxar Technologies–Thales Alenia Space team are competing for a Telesat contract estimated at $3,000,000,000.
On 2019-04-05, Relativity reached an agreement with Telesat for Telesat to use Terran 1 for an unspecified number of launches for Telesat’s broadband constellation under development.
Relativity announced a multi-launch contract with Telesat to support Telesat’s LEO constellation in April 2019.
Relativity and Telesat signed a contract on 2019-04-05 for Relativity to provide launch services for Telesat’s LEO satellite constellation.
On 2019-04-05, Relativity signed a contract with Telesat to launch a portion of Telesat’s low Earth orbit broadband satellite constellation.
Telesat expects to select a satellite manufacturer later 2019, with candidates being Airbus Defence and Space or a consortium of Maxar Technologies and Thales Alenia Space.
Telesat decided to include NewSpace companies in its LEO program to obtain lower costs and greater flexibility for deploying its constellation.
Telesat plans satellites in 1,000-kilometer and 1,250-kilometer orbits for an envisioned 292-satellite system.
Apstar-5C launched in September 2018 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and is owned by Telesat, with APT Satellite having helped finance and design the spacecraft.
SpaceX, Telesat, and LeoSat plan to use optical intersatellite links in their constellation designs.
OmniAccess signed a major, multiyear contract for broadband service from Telesat’s planned LEO constellation.
Telesat’s contract with OmniAccess includes limited exclusivity for OmniAccess to serve the superyacht market using Telesat LEO.
Telesat is actively preparing a low Earth orbit broadband constellation and expects to choose between manufacturers Airbus Defence and Space and a Maxar Technologies–Thales Alenia Space team later in the year.
The proposed C-band spectrum sale could generate $40,000,000,000 for Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Telesat.
Telesat reported a net loss of 91 million Canadian dollars for 2018, compared with a net profit of 505 million Canadian dollars in 2017.
Maxar is partnered with Thales Alenia Space on a proposal to build Telesat’s broadband LEO constellation that leverages developments from the WorldView Legion effort.
Gilat tested one of its modems with Global Eagle Entertainment and Telesat in October.
The modem test proved that the equipment could support live video streams between an aircraft and Telesat’s prototype low-Earth-orbit broadband satellite.