More than 1 billion billion for satellites

It was reported on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Franకోois Legalt that the two companies will unveil a $ 1 billion investment in Quebec for the ambitious satellite project. Newspaper.

Ontario MDA, which has a large plant in the West Island of Montreal, will announce the construction of new facilities in Quebec for the manufacture of antennas for the Telespeet Lightspeed Alliance. A network control center will also be set up there.

According to the information gathered Newspaper, The Legalt government will provide substantial financial assistance to the project, which is expected to create more than a hundred jobs.

As part of the Lightspeed project, Telesat plans to launch low orbit (LEO) satellites under 298.

This new generation of equipment will be made available to the aeronautics, shipping, telecommunications and government sectors.

Telesat’s LEO satellites are expected to provide high-speed Internet access to millions of Canadians living in remote areas.

Ottawa confirmed in November that it had paid $ 600 million to Telesat, which would allow it to provide affordable bandwidth to Internet service providers and mobile network operators.

Last week, Telesat Thales hired Alenia to build satellites and lead contractor for the project, a deal that could bring the Franco-Italian group more than $ 3 billion – the largest in history.

“Lightspeed is by far the most innovative and sophisticated broadband satellite network,” Telesat said in a press release announcing the deal with Thales Alenia.

Telesat plans to launch its first LEO satellites “in about two years”. After some time of testing, the company plans to launch the network’s commercial operations in the second half of 2023.

Satellites in low orbit fly at an altitude of 1,000 km above the Earth. Unlike satellites in geostationary and median orbit, they have the advantage of not imposing long transmission delays or speed limits. However, it should be noted that Telesat has not yet completed the financing of this expensive project, which is not the only one of its kind.

In the United States, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company and giant Amazon are aiming to launch thousands of satellites into low orbit in the next few years.

Some are concerned about the proliferation of these devices in space.

With the generous support from Quebec and Ottawa, the Montreal company Northstar Seal at Terre is working on the design of satellites that allow liquid circulation over our heads.