Thales Alenia Space won five contracts in 2007 to build seven communications and observation satellites, and formed new strategic partnerships.

Thales and Finmeccanica create a space alliance
In April 2007, the European Commission approved the transfer to Thales of Alcatel-Lucent's shares in Alcatel Alenia Space - now called Thales Alenia Space (owned 67% by Thales, 33% by Finmeccanica) - and Telespazio (67% Finmeccanica, 33% Thales).

A good year for communications satellites

    * Increased market share through the acquisition of new customers: Yahsat (United Arab Emirates), Telenor (Norway) and Indosat (Indonesia).
    * Contracts signed for six geostationary satellites, for a 26% market share: Thor6 for Telenor, Palapa-D for Indosat, Arabsat-5A and BADR-5 for Arabsat (as co-prime with Astrium) and Yahsat-1A & 1B (the latter worth 1.6 billion dollars as co-prime with Astrium).
    * Payloads: Thales Alenia Space signed the AmerHis2 contract for Hispasat's Amazonas-2 satellite (Spain), and will supply two payloads for the Loutch 5A and 5B satellites built by NPO-PM of Russia, giving it 35% of the commercial market.
    * Signature of an extension contract for the ground control segment dedicated to the Globalstar constellation, for which Thales Alenia Space has already complete prime contractor responsibility for the satellite segment.
    * Culmination of Alphabus platform development: the first flight model will be used for the joint ESA/Inmarsat mission Alphasat (Alphabus is being developed jointly by Thales Alenia Space and Astrium).
    * Signature of an industrial cooperation agreement by Thales Alenia Space and NPO-PM, providing for the development of a high-power multimission satellite platform (Express 4000), which will bolster NPO-PM's industrial leadership in Russia.

Rising to environmental challenges

    * Contract signed for the first satellite in the European program GMES, Sentinel-1, for 229 million euros.
    * Provision of two Emergesat containers to the Casques Rouge Foundation, which helps humanitarian disaster victims worldwide.
    * Study contracts for the Meteosat third generation ground segment (MTG) and for AMESD (GMES in Africa).
    * Operational startup of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the Metop meteorological satellite; initial results indicate decisive advances in digital forecasting, and have been warmly welcomed by all users as a global success.

A lead role in Mars exploration

Thales Alenia Space, chosen as prime contractor for ExoMars, giving Europe a pivotal role in future Mars exploration endeavors, carried out studies for ESA that helped define a detailed mission scenario.

Gearing up for Europe's future defense space observation system

    * Working for French defense procurement agency DGA, Thales Alenia Space carried out the conceptual study for Europe's future space observation system, MUSIS.
    * Working for French space agency CNES, Thales Alenia Space carried out the conceptual study for the post-Helios optical space system.

Participation in 13 missions using all types of launchers

    * 4 communications satellites: Galaxy 17, Chinasat 6B, Star One C1, and RASCOM-QAF1
    * 3 observation satellites: Cosmo-SkyMed-1 & 2, Radarsat-2
    * 1 International Space Station module: Node 2
    * 2 radar observation payloads: SAR-Lupe 2 & 3
    * 1 scientific payload: Agile
    * 8 first-generation Globalstar LEO satellites (in two launches)

New certification for all Thales Alenia Space entities

Thales Alenia Space has obtained 3 major certifications, ISO9001, EN9100 and AQAP2110, acknowledging the maturity level of the whole company.

About Thales Alenia Space

European leader in satellite systems and at the forefront of orbital infrastructures, Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%). Together with Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space forms a Space Alliance between the two groups. The company is a worldwide reference in telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. With 7200 employees and 11 industrial sites, Thales Alenia Space is located in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.