EADS SPACE

EADS SPACE, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space company), is dedicated to civil and defense space systems. In 2004, EADS SPACE had a turnover of €2.6 billion and 11,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. Its activities are based in its three main subsidiaries: EADS SPACE Transportation, for launchers and manned spaceflight, EADS Astrium for satellites and ground systems and EADS SPACE Services providing civil and military satellite based services.

EADS SPACE also plays a key role in space programs and satellite services through its specialist subsidiaries:

EADS SPACE also provides launch services, through its shareholdings in Arianespace (Ariane 5 launcher), Starsem (Soyuz launcher) and Eurockot (Rockot launcher), as well as space-based services via telecommunications and Earth observation satellites, through wholly owned entities such as Infoterra, or joint ventures such as Spot Image.

EADS SPACE is committed to providing access to space for Europe, consolidating Europe’s leading position in commercial launch services, and laying the groundwork for the next generation of launch vehicles.

The new-generation Ariane 5 ECA launcher was developed to meet the changing requirements in the commercial launch market s satellites become bigger and heavier. The launcher features a radically new design. Considerably more powerful, with payload capacity of 6.9 tonnes on dual launches in GTO (geostationary transfer orbit) for the generic version and up to around 10 tonnes for the ECA version.

EADS SPACE Transportation supplies all the stages of Ariane 5, including its equipment bay, the flight software and numerous sub-assemblies. EADS SPACE Transportation personnel are permanently available in Kourou, French Guiana, to help Arianespace during the launch campaigns.

Starting with the next production batch of 30 Ariane 5s, EADS SPACE Transportation has sole prime contractor responsibility for the Ariane 5 system. It will be responsible for delivery of the complete, fully tested, Ariane 5 to Arianespace, which operates the commercial launch service, and manages all the associated contracts.

EADS SPACE Transportation will also become the sole point of contact for the European Space Agency and prime contractor for all future launcher developments.

Europe’s expanding launcher family

Ariane 5 was designed primarily to satisfy evolving launch requirements, especially for the launch of heavy satellites into geostationary transfer orbit and for a wider variety of missions, including support missions to the International Space Station and those requiring in-orbit manoeuvres.

The Russian-built Soyuz launcher is designed to carry medium-weight satellites into low or sun-synchronous orbits, and is also suited to interplanetary missions such as Mars Express, or Venus Express. EADS SPACE Transportation is the largest shareholder in the joint French-Russian Starsem company, which markets Soyuz. The installation of a Soyuz launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, complements the existing launch services offered at the facility by Ariane 5.

Another product of European–Russian cooperation is the Rockot launcher, which adds a valuable lightweight capability to the European launch services line-up. Rockot can lift 1,850 kg into a 200km orbit inclined 63°, or 1,300 kg into a 500km polar orbit. Rockot is operated by Eurockot Launch Services, a joint venture between EADS SPACE Transportation (51%) and Khrunichev Space Centre.

EADS SPACE Transportation is also involved in the European small launcher program, Vega, initiated by the European Space Agency in 1998. The system’s target lift capability is 1,500 kg into a circular orbit at an altitude of 700km. Vega will be marketed by Arianespace, and is to be launched from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

A joint venture company New Generation Launchers is being set up between EADS-SPACE Transportation (70%) and Finmeccanica. Its headquarters will be in Turin.

Europe is already thinking about the post-Ariane 5 generation, with ESA’s FutureLauncher Preparatory Programme (FLPP). By bringing together existing national initiatives, particularly in France and Germany, this programme should support development of the enabling technologies needed for the next generation of launchers – expendable, reusable or somewhere in-between – while satisfying the market’s stringent economic requirements. EADS SPACE Transportation is already making preparations to continue its leadership on the programmes of tomorrow. Technology demonstrator studies which could be incorporated into FLPP are on-going, using government funding and the company’s own R&D resources, and the final approach and landing of a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) was flight-tested in 2004 with Phoenix. Another demonstrator, Pre-X, will form the basis of the intermediate experimental atmospheric re-entry vehicle, also to be developed within the scope of FLPP.

The ISS is one of the world's largest international cooperative science and technology programs. Ten European countries (represented by the European Space Agency), along with the United States (NASA), Japan (NASDA), Canada (CSA) and Russia (RKA) are participating in the creation of this unique, in-orbit research and development facility. Under the framework of agreements with the European Space Agency, EADS SPACE Transportation is the main European partner in this challenging programme.

EADS SPACE Transportation is also leading an international team from 10 countries on the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) program. The Automated Transfer Vehicle will ferry propellants, food, water and equipment to the ISS. Once docked, it will use its own engines to correct the station’s orbit, compensating for a regular loss of altitude due to drag. At the end of its mission, lasting several months, it will be filled with waste, and burn up as it heads back into the atmosphere. The ATV will be the first European spacecraft to carry out an automatic rendezvous and docking with a space station. The first ATV, dubbed Jules Verne, will be launched by an Ariane 5 in 2006. A total of seven missions are planned for the period up to 2013.

EADS SPACE Transportation is prime contractor to the European Space Agency for the Columbus laboratory, which is the core European contribution to the International Space Station project. A pressurized module with its own life-support system, Columbus will provide the operating environment for research in zero gravity conditions in the fields of material science, medicine, human physiology, biology, Earth observation, fluid physics and astronomy. It also will serve as a test-bed for new technologies. Columbus is designed to dock with the ISS and remain operational for at least 15 years.

EURISS, an EADS ST/AleniaSpazio (75%/25%) joint venture dedicated to carrying out the ISS industrial operations contract for ESA, was established in March 2005.

Aurora is the European Space Agency’s preparatory program for exploration of the solar system. The primary objective of Aurora is to create, and then implement, a European long-term plan for the robotic and human exploration of the solar system, with Mars, the Moon and the asteroids as the most likely targets. EADS SPACE is carrying out the first definition study of major robotic flagship missions in the program including the ExoMars Rover and Mars Sample Return (MSR). The ExoMars Rover is a 200kg robotic vehicle designed to be able to traverse several kilometres of the Martian surface, including steep slopes. It will carry an exobiology payload of approximately 40kg and will navigate using optical sensors. The ExoMars mission could be ready towards the end of the decade. The MSR mission’s aim is the return to Earth of a small capsule containing around 500g of samples taken from the Martian surface. This challenging mission, which could be launched around 2011, calls for an Earth–Mars transfer stage, a Mars orbiter, a descent module with sample-collecting facilities, an ascent module and an Earth re-entry vehicle. MSR is the first robotic mission to include all the basic functions required to support a human mission.

EADS SPACE Transportation is the European specialist in atmospheric re-entry systems, crucial both for ensuring the safe return of spacecraft to Earth, and for planetary exploration missions. The company’s unrivalled experience with ballistic missiles underpins broad technological expertise in the design of space vehicles, plus the specialised field of high-temperature materials.

EADS SPACE Transportation has made the thermal protection systems for all of Europe’s interplanetary missions. Designated prime contractor for ESA, EADS SPACE Transportation was in charge of developing the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator (ARD). The ARD mission in 1998 was a complete success, giving Europe its first full-scale experience in controlled atmospheric re-entry.

Successful missions include the Huygens probe, launched in 1997 and which landed on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005.

EADS Astrium is a world leader in the design and manufacture of satellites for mobile communications, fixed services and direct-to-home broadcast missions for television/radio and other dedicated applications. It offers customers a total communications system capability, from system design, satellite manufacture, launch and in-orbit operation to full ground control and communications networks.

EADS Astrium has developed the outstandingly successful Eurostar series of high-performance telecommunications spacecraft. To date, 40 Eurostar satellites have been ordered, and the 28 launched since 1990 have established a remarkable record for reliability and quality of service. Together these satellites have accumulated more than 400 years of in-orbit operation. The latest Eurostar version, the E3000, already chosen by satellite operators Eutelsat,Hispasat, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Paradigm and Telesat and successfully introduced in orbit in 2004, is setting new standards. Its extensive mass and power scalability and enhanced payload accommodation make the E3000 a highly efficient single-product solution across the whole scope of communications missions, from conventional mid-range to the most sophisticated.

In the field of Earth observation, EADS Astrium designs and manufactures a wide range of highly versatile platforms, along with optical and radar instruments and ground segment equipment for the complete scope of remote-sensing applications, operations and services. The multi-mission Spot platform is currently in use on 15 European Earth observation satellites, including the Helios military surveillance satellites.

EADS Astrium is the only company to have exported new generation Earth observation spacecraft notably to the Far East.

The company is also well positioned in the growing market for remote sensing data, applications and services from space through its subsidiary Infoterra, and by its significant holdings in Spot Image and Eurimage.

The European global navigation satellite system Galileo, scheduled to be operational by the end of the decade, will be based on a constellation of 30 satellites in circular orbits providing full global coverage under civil control. Galileo is a major opportunity for the space industry, and EADS Astrium is playing a major role in the design and development of Galileo, the European Commission project for a new global satellite navigation system, as a founding member and principal shareholder of EADS Astrium Galileo Industries, the consortium set up to provide industrial expertise and support for the programme. Drawing on its long experience in the field of satellite navigation, EADS Astrium is supplying one of the system test satellites, GSTB V2, and will work on the initial four Galileo system satellites.

EADS SPACE Services is applying its expertise and its vision in support of the new European global satellite navigation system ‘Galileo’. EADS SPACE Services has partnered with best-in-class companies to form the consortium to become the Galileo Operating Company, the entity which will deploy and operate the constellation over a 20-year period. This ‘concessionaire’, as the company is known, will finalise the contract with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) by the end of 2005. This constitutes the first major Public–Private Partnership involving all 25 European member states.

EADS Astrium est le maître d’œuvre des véhicules spatiaux pour EADS Astrium is spacecraft prime contractor for most of the European Space Agency's major scientific programs: these include the SOHO Sun observatory satellite, which has shown fantastic resilience following its spectacular recovery in space; the four satellite CLUSTER 2 fleet; the XMM-Newton x-ray space telescope, which has demonstrated exceptional performance, and ROSETTA, a deep space comet explorer. EADS Astrium was also prime contractor for Mars Express and Venus Express. It is also prime for Aeolus, ESA’s wind sensing satellite. It has also won the contract for the LISA Pathfinder gravity wave technology demonstrator spacecraft.



The company is now developing the ‘super-eye’ spectrograph for the Hubble successor JWST (James Webb Space Telescope). EADS Astrium’s ground-breaking developments in lightweight silicon-carbide technology are fundamental for the realisation of this programme, and the company is also responsible for the Herschel telescope, due for launch in 2007, will investigate the origin of the very first stars and galaxies.

EADS SPACE Services is responsible for the development and promotion of satellite services, concentrating on secure communications and navigation.

As the space industry matures, space-based services are becoming an increasingly important part of the business across a vast range of sectors, with users in both the civil and military fields looking for wider options and commercial solutions which meet precisely their needs without taking on the capital investment burden (and risk) of procurement and management of operations themselves.

Customers include public authorities which outsource their secure communications, remote sensing, or navigation infrastructure. New satellite applications, in a similar way to digital radio or in-flight communications, are often only introduced as mass-market services following substantial backing and risk sharing by the industry that provides the related technologies.

Space technology is indispensable today for homeland security and peacekeeping, and for decision-making in military action. With over 40 years of experience in the field, EADS SPACE is playing a major role in creating a safer world.

EADS SPACE is one of few companies worldwide capable of offering a complete end-to-end space communications and surveillance capability.

The company has developed the next generation systems, employing the latest developments in leading-edge technology. The Helios II program, which includes two new satellites and an enhanced user ground segment, entered service in 2005.

Building on its heritage in both optical and radar satellites, EADS Astrium is developing new concepts. These smaller, cost-effective, high-performance satellites give access to flexible, high-quality, multi-source spatial imaging for tactical response.

EADS Astrium has been awarded a contract by the DGA (the French MoD Procurement Agency for the demonstration of an optical link between an airborne carrier representative of the future medium- and high-altitude UAVs (MALE and HALE) and the ARTEMIS geo-stationary satellite from ESA by 2006.

EADS Astrium has extensive experience in providing space-based communications products and services tailored to the highly specific requirements of the military user. It has supplied, for example, satellites such as the UK Ministry of Defence’s Skynet 4 series (adopted by NATO for its NATO IV satellites), and the French government’s Telecom 2, which demonstrated their superior capabilities in operational conditions. The company is designing and developing the next generation of secure communications systems, in particular within the framework of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Skynet 5 program. EADS Astrium also supplies an extensive range of satellite ground system products and terminals, while EADS SPACE, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Paradigm Secure Communications, provides the UK MOD with comprehensive satellite communications services and will operate the complete Skynet 4 and 5 systems.

EADS SPACE’s two subsidiaries contribute specific skills to the company’s activities:

This company’s core activities include:

In the field of optronic equipment (attitude sensors, detection and scientific instrumentation), EADS SODERN is a subcontractor in the worldwide marketplace.

In the areas of interest for EADS SPACE, EADS SODERN provides key instrument Earth sensors and star trackers for the SPOT/HELIOS and EADS Astrium Eurostar satellites, and supplies guidance sensors for ballistic missiles and for the ATV vehicle.

EADS is the only group in Europe with the full range of skills and technologies needed to develop, deploy and support ballistic missile defense systems, whether for the protection of armed forces or entire countries and their populations. EADS has the international stature required to enable a joint European approach, coupled with the scale to sustain a balanced transatlantic partnership.

EADS SPACE provides the space and exo-atmospheric segment of the EADS portfolio. Ballistic missile defense is inseparable from EADS SPACE’s core business: deterrence, access to space and satellites.

The EADS Astrium subsidiary has the expertise to develop early warning satellites and ballistic missile surveillance systems. The DGA (French Government Procurement Agency), Telecommunication and Information Programs Department, has awarded EADS Astrium a demonstrator contract for the design and production of an early warning optical space European approach system.

EADS SPACE Transportation is the prime contractor for the ballistic missile systems that form France’s strategic deterrent force. The company is responsible for development of the M45 and M51 submarine-launched missiles, as well as their operating systems. EADS SPACE Transportation is also tasked with operational maintenance of the missiles, assisting the French armed forces during test firing and with missile integration facilities at the Ile Longue naval base.

EADS SPACE Transportation and its predecessor companies have overseen the development of five generations of strategic missiles during the past 30 years.

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