The 2020 has been a very challenging year, as the global crisis caused by pandemic urged for new and effective solutions to mitigate its sanitary and socio-economic impact. Space industry gave an important contribution to the crisis management, as it was able to provide reliable data, essential for assessing the crisis context, to monitor its evolution and provide effective solutions.
Satellite communications and navigation, Earth observation, and other innovative space technologies can respond effectively to the current extraordinary circumstances, and through its applications, improve the citizen’s life and the needs of the entire society. The exact core belief of Thales Alenia Space – “Space For Life”.
One good example is the land monitoring in order to understand the economic effects linked to the spread of the virus. The Copernicus data – the EU’s Earth Observation program in which Thales Alenia Space gives an essential contribution through the development of Sentinels – was crucial in understanding the situation locally and planning future measures. An integrated vision along the value chain, from infrastructure to services, becomes an exceptional driving force that creates added value in the Space economy and provides concrete answers to needs of our communities in decisive moments. A vision and expertise that has been once again awarded by ESA, who entrusted to Thales Alenia Space the construction of 5 new Sentinels.
During 2020 Thales Alenia Space has also been engaged in important Space Exploration missions, primarily with ESA and NASA. The list of projects is impressive: the International Space Station and with the launches of Cygnus pressurized modules, AXIOM, the first commercial space station, Mars exploration missions such as ExoMars 2022 and Mars Sample Return, Lunar exploration, with Human Landing System in collaboration with Dynetics, and Lunar Gateway, the heart of NASA’s Artemis program, just to name some of them.
The Space industry has always been the forefront of our technological and scientific development. Today, more than ever, it shows us that it can provide a strong economic boost, exceeding its own boundaries and connecting different industries. Thales Alenia Space, in the very core of this ecosystem, works relentlessly to face all the future challenges, with the strong belief that the new Space Economy will be fundamental in creating new industrial synergies and making existing ones more competitive.
