
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Leading innovation at the heart of the world's space ecosystem
Toulouse, September 20, 2023 - Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its plant in Toulouse, France, at an event attended by representatives of the Occitanie regional authority and Toulouse municipal authority, space agencies, partners and stakeholders from the local business ecosystem.
Thales Alenia Space's French headquarters in Toulouse is the largest of its nine industrial plants in Europe. Since opening in 1983, the plant has established itself as a leader in the development and integration of leading-edge space technologies, while contributing to the growth of the local economy. Today, its 2,800+ employees work in altimetry, civil and military communication payloads and systems, satellite navigation, and ground segments.
Thales Alenia Space
In celebrating this 40th anniversary of our Toulouse plant, we're not only honoring our heritage but also the future we're building with our local partners to foster significant technological advances across the satellite industry, said Denis Allard, Toulouse plant Director. Thales Alenia Space's successes and expertise are underpinned by a New Space approach serving innovation and sustainable development. By addressing the most complex technological challenges and positioning itself in the vanguard of future space technologies like 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT) and quantum communications, Thales Alenia Space is maintaining its status as a key space player, while strengthening its ties with the city of Toulouse and contributing to local development.
A communications pioneer: from TDF2 to Space Inspire
Space INSPIRE Thales Alenia Space
Over the last 40 years, Thales Alenia Space's plant in Toulouse has established itself as a center of excellence in satellite communications. Having designed payloads for the TDF2, Eutelsat II and Telecom2/Syracuse2 satellites in the 1980s, and for Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 9 in the 1990s, the plant has already developed more than 300 payloads and is currently designing the ones of Space Inspire (INstant SPace In-orbit REconfiguration), a fully in-orbit reconfigurable product line. Space Inspire's capabilities and flexibility have been recognized by the world's leading operators, with five satellites ordered in 2022.
A trailblazer in European satellite navigation: from EGNOS to Galileo 2nd Generation (G2G)
Galileo Second Generation Thales Alenia Space
The Toulouse plant goes back to the very beginnings of satellite navigation in Europe. Having previously supplied the mission ground segment for the first-generation Galileo constellation, in service since 2016, it won the contract in July this year for the mission ground segment for Galileo 2nd Generation (G2G). The plant is also prime contractor for the current version of EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), Europe's satellite navigation system that started operation in 2009. This system augments positional fixes from the Global Positioning System (GPS), and is soon set to do so for Galileo. This expertise has also brought Thales Alenia Space a series of successes in export markets, including a satellite navigation system in South Korea and numerous demonstrations in Africa.
It is also in Toulouse that Thales Alenia Space developed the MEOLUT Next solution, a ground station used to operate the COSPAS-SARSAT network's global MEOSAR search-and-rescue service. MEOLUT Next is already helping nations around the world to save lives, in the European Union, United States, Canada, Togo, Vietnam and Thailand. The system can detect and locate distress signals on land, at sea and in the air within a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles).
Thales Alenia Space in Toulouse has also leveraged its expertise in constellations and navigation systems to address new markets requiring new navigation and geolocation capabilities, such as Kineis, the first French constellation dedicated to the Internet of things (IoT), and Omnispace, for which the first two nanosatellites were orbited in 2022.
Pioneering satellite altimetry for Earth observation: from TOPEX/Poseidon to SWOT
SWOT Thales Alenia Space/Imag[IN]
Toulouse plant is a world leader in satellite altimetry for Earth observation. Since the Poseidon altimeter developed jointly with the French space agency CNES for missions like TOPEX/Poseidon, marking the advent of precision altimetry, Thales Alenia Space has become the gold standard in this field with the Jason series of satellites in partnership with NASA, the Poseidon-4 digital altimeter on the European Space Agency's Sentinel-6 satellite, the SIRAL 2 and AltiKa altimeters, and the SWIM wave spectrometer. More recently, the French-U.S. SWOT satellite (Surface Water and Ocean Topography), launched in late 2022, is revolutionizing modern oceanography and land surface hydrology with its ability to detect ocean features at ten times higher resolution than current technologies.
The Toulouse plant currently contributes to the Copernicus program, for which it is developing the IRIS radar altimeter for the CRISTAL mission and the wide-swath and NADIR altimeters for Sentinel-3 New Generation.
An innovation incubator and a New Space approach
Space Business Catalyst Thales Alenia Space/Laurent Barranco
R&D and innovation are integral to Thales Alenia Space's development strategy in Toulouse. Since 2014, Thales Alenia Space has deployed a pioneering approach centered on its Innovation Cluster, complementing its R&D efforts. This initiative has fostered disruptive intrapreneurship projects like Space Edge Computing in partnership with Microsoft, and partnerships with more than 700 startups including local firms Kin
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing.
Discl...
17/09/2025
CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...
17/09/2025
PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...
17/09/2025
In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...
17/09/2025
Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...
17/09/2025
Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...
17/09/2025
Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...
17/09/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...
17/09/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...
17/09/2025
In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...
17/09/2025
Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...
17/09/2025
Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...
17/09/2025
Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026.
By
Colette Greenstein
September 17, 2025
...
17/09/2025
Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia Through ELIA's UAx Platform, six students from Kyiv joined Berklee Valencia for a week...
17/09/2025
Earlier this year Avid announced Kenna Hilburn as its new senior vice president of product. Recently Hilburn was promoted to Avids new Chief Product Officer, su...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....
17/09/2025
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...
17/09/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
Jo Returns to FOR-A as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15...
16/09/2025
VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...
16/09/2025
ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...
16/09/2025
IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...
16/09/2025
Collaboration marks the first SSP integration of Gracenote IDs, enabling show-le...
16/09/2025
AMSTERDAM The organizers of IBC2025 are reporting that 43,858 visitors from more than 170 countries attended the event, which had more than 1,300 exhibitors and...
16/09/2025
Wooden Camera announces the release of its new Accessory Collection for the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55. The highlights of this collection include vital power soluti...
16/09/2025
Anton/Bauer, a leading manufacturer of mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic equipment, has announced the launch of Anton/Bauer Fleet Management, a...
16/09/2025
Teradek, a leading provider of video transmission and live production solutions, today announced the launch of Prism Jetpack, a groundbreaking 5G video contribu...
16/09/2025
Astera, the leader in wireless LED lighting solutions, announces the ultra-versatile SolaBulb. Building on the success of the Astera bulb family, SolaBulb intro...
16/09/2025
As the world gathered at TED2025 to explore the provocative theme "Humanity Reimagined", Clear-Com , supported by NETGEAR networking infrastructure, delivered f...