Thales Alenia Space in Belgium, innovative space solutions, new space & exploration

Drawing on over 40 years of experience and a unique combination of skills, expertise and cultures, Thales Alenia Space delivers cost-effective solutions for telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation, environmental management, exploration, science and orbital infrastructures. Governments and private industry alike count on Thales Alenia Space to design satellite-based systems that provide anytime, anywhere connections and positioning, monitor our planet, enhance management of its resources, and explore our Solar System and beyond.

A joint venture and global presence

Thales Alenia Space sees space as a new horizon, helping to build a better, more sustainable life on Earth. A joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), Thales Alenia Space also teams up with Telespazio to form the parent companies’ Space Alliance, which offers a complete range of services. Thales Alenia Space posted consolidated revenues of approximately €2.15 billion in 2021 and has around 8,000 employees in 10 countries with 17 sites in Europe and a plant in the U.S.

Thales Alenia Space in Belgium

In Belgium, Thales Alenia Space is represented by its subsidiary Thales Alenia Space in Belgium, in Charleroi, Leuven and Hasselt. This Belgian company is an expert in several high-technology fields. Thales Alenia Space in Belgium is the Belgian front-runner in space electronics applications for satellites and launchers, a world leader in power conditioning and distribution for satellites, a key supplier of electronics for European launchers and will be the first automated manufactory of photovoltaic assemblies (PVA) in the Europe. Day after day, our staff of 700 offers quality products and services to our customers all over the world.

A Belgian company at the forefront of the space sector

Since 1963, we have contributed to most European space programs and many international satellite launches.

Satellites are our core business…

We are a world leader in satellite power conditioning and distribution, the electric core of satellites. Our product range covers needs from observation microsatellites up to the large geo-stationary satellites for telecom applications, with power requirements from 250 W up to 20 kW. The company also enjoys a position at the forefront of flight electronics products: avionics, power supplies for plasmic propulsion thrusters, power supplies for travelling wave tubes, DC/DC converters and other dedicated power products.

… And we build the electronics for Ariane, Artemis and Vega

Since more than 40 years, Thales Alenia Space in Belgium contributes to the European launchers adventure by providing key electronics systems for the entire Ariane family (Ariane 1 to Ariane 6). For each Ariane 5, Thales Alenia Space in Belgium has provided 50% of the on-board electronics and participates in the development of the safeguard system of Ariane 6.

New Space at a glance

Thales Alenia Space comes into its own in New Space. From more than 15 years, Thales Alenia Space has leveraged its expertise in constellations, navigation systems, Earth observation, and orbital infrastructures to span the different New Space markets concerning the Internet of Things (IoT), search and rescue, and optical observation systems featuring high revisit rates. The digital transformation is now running in the space sector, and Europe is leading the charge for software-defined flexible satellites with all-electric propulsion for all types of satellites. Thales Alenia Space’s Space Inspire product line, featuring ultra-flexible and fully reprogrammable-in-orbit payloads, has been chosen by major telecom operators, who expect increasingly innovative and agile solutions to comply with their fast-evolving markets.

New Space and Space exploration

New Space also applies to space exploration, and Thales Alenia Space is at the heart of this dynamic as it has become the world leader in pressurized modules dedicated to human space exploration and to support new initiatives for a commercial use of low Earth Orbit. After supplying more than 50% of the ISS’s pressurized modules, including the iconic Cupola, a room with a 360° view of the Earth and the station, Thales Alenia Space is developing the first 2 modules of the first commercial space station in the world (Axiom Space) which will be attached to the ISS initially for commercial operation, then detached to live its own life, when the ISS reaches the end of its life in 2028.

Thales Alenia Space will also supply three pressurized elements of the lunar space station (part of Artemis NASA program), the International Habitat I-HAB, the communication and supply module ESPRIT and the pressurized compartment of the logistics and accommodation module HALO, one of the first two elements of the lunar space station to be launched in 2023. The company is also involved in Orion.

Innovation and quality

25% of Thales Alenia Space’s revenues are reinjected into Research, Innovation and Development in order to stay at the forefront of new technologies.

Our one motto: routine quality

Day after day, some 700 employees apply a strict quality system at each stage of development, manufacturing and marketing activities, in compliance with the standards ISO 9001, EN 9100, AQAP 2110, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. We are also accredited with the CMM3 certificate from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI).

References

Telecom satellites:

Globalstar, O3B, Iridium Next, Koresat 7, AMC12, AMC13, Apstar, Syracuse, Star One, HotBird 7, Chinasat, Express, AM11-22-33-44, Koreasat, Ciel-2, Turksat, W2A, W7, Satcom, BW, Sicral 2, Globalstar, Nilesat, Loutch, Palapa-D, Apstar 7B, Rascom, O3b, Arsat, Iridium, W6A, Artemis, Turkmenalen…

Observation, scientific and navigation satellites:

COSMO-SkyMed, Sarah, GEO-KOMPSAT, Jason-CS, Euclid, Meteosat, Smart 1, Pleiades-HR, Spirale, Stereo, Galileo, Herschel, Planck, Giove-B, Myriad, Sentinel 1, 2, 3, Spot, Helios, Iso, XMM, Integral, Huygens, Soho, Jason 1, 2, 3…

Launchers and space transports:

Ariane 5, Ariane 6, Vega, ATV, Expert, Colombus, ARD.