By RIA Novasti
Moscow : Russia’s Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Production Association (NPO-PM) and France’s Thales Alenia Space are developing a new multifunctional satellite platform, Russian officials said Wednesday.
Thales Alenia Space, a major payload provider for the Russian telecom satellite market, and NPO-PM are closely working on a joint programme to build new multi-mission satellite platform, optimised for a direct injection in the Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) and High-Elliptical Orbit (HEO) missions.
“Express-4000 will incorporate a large range of Russian equipments and subsystems and will embark a Thales Alenia Space payload,” it said.
The high-capacity Express-4000 satellite will be commercialised by NPO-PM as prime contractor and will be Proton compatible. It will be built and integrated in Russia at NPO-PM’s facilities.
Thales Alenia Space President and CEO Pascale Sourisse said: “This extended cooperation with NPO-PM and the Russian industry is a major step for the telecom satellite market and Thales Alenia Space’s strategy.
This common approach demonstrates the confidence and trust between our two companies, which is based on a strong heritage of cooperation and success.”
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67 percent) and Finmeccanica (33 percent). Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio embody the two groups’ “Space Alliance”.
The company has a total of 7,200 employees and 11 industrial sites, with locations in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.