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Quantum: Flagship UK telecommunications satellite launches - BBC News
Jul 30, 2021 1 min, 42 secs

A telecommunications satellite has gone into orbit that UK industry hopes will help maintain its global leadership in the sector.

A quarter of the world's big telecoms spacecraft are manufactured in Britain, and the new Quantum platform is billed as a next-generation product.

Although the manufacturing of Quantum has been led from the UK, it is the French, Paris-based operator Eutelsat that owns the spacecraft.

But telecoms markets don't stand still, and being able to totally reconfigure an in-orbit platform would allow an operator to adapt to any shifts in the business landscape - without the need to build and launch another bespoke platform.

The operator would simply reprogram the existing satellite.

It's been produced through the European Space Agency's (Esa) Artes programme, an R&D initiative aimed at keeping the European satellite telecommunications industry globally competitive.

The major partners on Quantum, in addition to Esa and the operator Eutelsat, are the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the British-based manufacturers Airbus UK and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL).

Airbus UK built the telecoms side of Quantum; SSTL produced its bus, or chassis.

The OneSat model it now sells to operators features much of the same technology as Quantum.

"If you're not having to fully customise a bespoke satellite at the outset, you can move to a more mass-production model for satellite manufacturing, and that brings advantages in terms of lead time and cost," he told BBC News.

Eutelsat intends to make good use of the adaptability of the 3.5-tonne Quantum spacecraft when it enters service after a period of testing.

Eutelsat is positioning Quantum in an orbital slot at 48 degrees East, but the company knows the spacecraft could be moved anywhere around the globe and still fulfil its mission.

"The Euroconsult financial, social and economic health study of 2019 predicted this Eutelsat quantum project would have €20 of general return for each euro invested," she noted.

Friday's Ariane-5 rocket also lofted the Star One D2 satellite.

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