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 received a $2.8 million, 12-month DARPA study contract announced on 2018-11-27 to assess the utility of Telesat buses.
DARPA’s objective for Blackjack is to achieve economies of scale by developing a pipeline of spacecraft synchronized with the Telesat spacecraft production line to lower spacecraft bus costs.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Telesat a contract to study the use of commercial buses in the Blackjack experimental low-Earth-orbit constellation program.
The earlier DARPA contract awarded to Telesat on 2018-11-16 is for four months.
SpaceX previously used the same Block 5 booster for the July launch of Telesat’s Telstar 19 Vantage satellite.
Telesat awarded study contracts to Airbus Defence and Space and to a team of Maxar Technologies and Thales Alenia Space to evaluate how to build its constellation.
Telesat received FCC approval last year for a 117-satellite Ka-band constellation.
The FCC’s 2018-11-15 meeting docket includes authorizing two NGSO satellite systems by Kepler Communications and LeoSat and modifying existing authorizations for SpaceX and Telesat.
The Federal Communications Commission scheduled a vote for 2018-11-15 on proposed satellite constellations from Kepler Communications and LeoSat and on expansion requests from SpaceX and Telesat.
Since 2016 the FCC has approved three large low-Earth-orbit broadband constellations: 117 satellites for Telesat, 720 satellites for OneWeb, and 4,425 satellites for SpaceX.
Telesat seeks FCC approval to add another 117 satellites that would use V-band spectrum.
Maxar is competing as a team with Thales Alenia Space against Airbus to build an estimated $3,000,000,000 worth of small telecommunications satellites for Canadian operator Telesat.
Hughes entered service a leased Ka-band payload on Telesat’s Telstar-19 Vantage over Latin America in 2019.
The Thales Alenia Space and Maxar Technologies team is competing against Airbus for a 2019 Telesat contract estimated to be worth $3,000,000,000.
Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Telesat formed the C-Band Alliance on 2018-10-01 to facilitate the transfer of C-band spectrum and distribute proceeds from cellular companies for replacement infrastructure and customer migration costs.
ThinKom and Telesat plan to test an antenna with a Telesat prototype satellite in low Earth orbit and to collaborate on business-grade terminals for Telesat’s planned 120-satellite LEO constellation.
ThinKom envisions producing around 10,000 or more enterprise terminals per year for Telesat to achieve necessary scale to keep prices low.
Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Telesat founded the C-band Alliance on 2018-10-01 to oversee the C-band spectrum transfer and serve as the FCC-designated transition facilitator.
Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat formalized the creation of the C-Band Alliance on 2018-10-01.
Telesat is developing a LEO constellation with initial plans for 117 satellites that could grow to as many as 512 depending on demand.