Spainsat NG-1 is already travelling through space, packed with Spanish high technology
- An example of Spanish technological sovereignty
- Main technological contributions of the national industry
Mission accomplished! The Spainsat NG-1 secure communications satellite has been travelling alone through outer space since the early hours of 30 January as it heads towards its final orbital position 36,000 kilometres from Earth.
More than 300 people, including important civil and military figures - headed by the Secretary of State and CNI director, Esperanza Casteleiro - senior executives from the national space sector and technicians and engineers from the companies that have participated in the Spainsat New Generation programme have watched the live broadcast of the launch from two large auditoriums at the Satellite Control and Operation Centre that the company has set up in the town of Hoyo de Manzanares, 37 kilometres from Madrid.
All of them were able to observe with satisfaction and excitement as a Falcon 9 from the North American company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, with Spainsat NG on board, took off at 02:34 in the morning, Spanish peninsular time, from the launch complex LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Attentive to the screen, they observed the ascent flight data and saw how the first seconds and minutes lifted it correctly.
Those present had been informed by Hisdesat's Director of Business Development, Miguel Angel Redondo, and from Toulouse (France) by the Head of Operations, Miguel Angel Serrano, of the details of the launch and that take-off is a decisive step. But just as crucial was the separation of the first and second stages of propulsion, which took place two minutes and 45 seconds later, while the ascent flight was maintained within optimal parameters.
Finally, 31 minutes and 51 seconds after take-off, the Falcon 9 ejected and released Spainsat NG-1 into outer space, at the point calculated by the engineers, 767 kilometres above the Earth. It was the moment when everyone present applauded the success of the mission, which placed NG-1 in a geostationary transfer orbit in which its five xenon-fuelled ion engines should propel it to its final orbital position at 29º East, 36,000 kilometres from Earth.
An example of Spanish technological sovereignty
To follow the launch from the SpaceX Control Centre, the Secretary of State for Defence, Amparo Valcarce, had travelled to Florida with the Chairman and CEO of Hisdesat, Admiral Santiago Bolívar and Miguel Ángel García Primo, respectively. They were accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force, General Francisco Braco; the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Antonio Piñeiro; the Director General of Strategy and Innovation of the Defence Industry, Lieutenant General Miguel Ivorra; and the Head of Space Command, General Isaac.
Along with the aforementioned senior officials, ‘authorities from the ministries of Industry, Science, Foreign Affairs, Digital Transformation and Public Administration, as well as senior executives from Hispasat, Airbus and Indra’, companies that are shareholders of Hisdesat, have travelled in a Spanish Air Force plane, confirms the company that owns the new Spanish spacecraft, without mentioning positions or names.
Spainsat NG-1 clearly demonstrates Spain's strategic and technological sovereignty in encrypted space communications thanks to the institutional support of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) and the efforts of Spanish industries such as Airbus Crisa, Alter Technology, Arquimea, GMV, HV Sistemas, Indra, Inventia Kinetics, Sener and Tecnobit, all of them led by the Spanish subsidiaries of Airbus Space Systems and Thales Alenia Space, both main contractors for the programme.
The NG-1 is based on Airbus's Eurostar Neo platform with fully electric propulsion. The jewel in the spacecraft's crown, the most critical elements, are its two active X-band planar antennas which, according to the CEO of Hisdesat, ‘are the result of many years of continuous effort and investment’. This is the result of collective work by the Spanish space industry under the leadership of Anton Cuadrado and Luis Guerra, the last two executive directors of Airbus Space Systems Spain.
The two advanced X-band antennas are reconfigurable in reception and transmission, providing a high degree of technological sovereignty to the national space community. Both are high-powered and efficient and are able to resist and geo-localise interference (anti-jamming) and to deal with attempts to impersonate their links, which is known as anti-spoofing.
Main technological contributions of the national industry
Under the full responsibility of Airbus in Getafe, the Spanish companies Sener, Indra, Tecnobit, Arquimea and GMV constitute the central nucleus that has made the X-band antennas for encrypted communications a reality. ‘It is worth emphasising,’ explains the executive director of Hisdesat, ‘because these two antennas are the most critical element, they have a large R&D component and where Spanish industry has really excelled’.
In short, the Arquimea factory in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) - formerly IberEspacio - is responsible for the entire complex that ensures the thermal control of the X-band antennas and evacuates excess heat; GMV contributes the software; Indra provides the miniaturised hybrid electronics that control and multiply the capabilities of the radiating elements; Tecnobit has produced the electronic cards that guarantee the security of communications; and Sener has designed and manufactured the assembly that integrates the dual power amplifiers.
But there is another important group of national companies that have contributed their know-how to give shape and life to the two satellites. Airbus Crisa is supplying the critical electronic units for control and power supply and distribution; Inventia Kinetics is providing the mechanical ground support equipment to facilitate the integration and testing of the antennas; HV Sistemas has brought the test benches to life; and Alter Technology has been responsible for verifying the quality and reliability of the critical components and for carrying out the destructive physical tests to validate their optimal technology.
For the transmission of large volumes of data, Spainsat NG-1 has six pieces of equipment and parabolic antennas in military Ka band, under the responsibility of Thales Alenia Space España in Tres Cantos (Madrid). The key to the aforementioned six Ka antennas is their unique pointing mechanism, the work of Sener, ‘which simplifies and positions their movements with high precision’.
Spainsat NG-1 will reach its final destination in about six months and will then begin to provide services to the Spanish Armed Forces and Hisdesat's government clients in third countries. Its twin, Spainsat NG-2, will take to space in September or October, also aboard Elon Musk's Falcon 9 from the LC-39A launch complex in Florida.