Telesat taps SpaceX to launch its broadband satellites in orbit

Telesat

11/09/2023 12:00

By Steve Scherer
       OTTAWA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Canada's Telesat  TSAT.TO 
on Monday said it has signed a agreement with SpaceX to launch
its low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation called
Lightspeed starting in 2026, with the aim of providing global
broadband service from space in late 2027.
    LEO satellites operate 36 times closer to Earth than
traditional ones so they take less time to send and receive
information, leading to better and faster broadband service even
in remote areas.
    "It is another big step forward on our path to get
Lightspeed up there," Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg told Reuters.
    Telesat picked Elon Musk's SpaceX because it had "the best
combination of price, performance, reliability and schedule
tempo," Goldberg said.
    No value was given for the contract, which covers 14
launches. Each Falcon 9 rocket will carry up to 18 satellites
into orbit, putting the constellation on track for deployment by
the end of 2027 when Telesat plans to provide global service,
the company said. That is three years later than initially
planned.
    Telesat last month said it would save $2 billion by awarding
Canada's MDA Ltd  MDA.TO  the contract to build its 198
satellites. In 2021, Thales Alenia Space had been given the
contract.
    "COVID hit, and supply chain issues hit, and inflation hit,"
and Thales told Telesat about two years ago it could no longer
meet the agreed price and schedule, Goldberg said.
    The SpaceX contract for the 14 launches "gives us scope to
expand the constellation above and beyond the 198 (satellites)
that we've committed to with MDA," Goldberg said.
    Telesat is moving into the competitive new realm of LEO
networks with the aim to service so-called enterprise customers
who include mobile operators, governments, aircraft and shipping
companies.
    Most of the LEO competition - which includes SpaceX and its
Starlink constellation and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and its
Project Kuiper - is focused on the consumer market.
    Satellite constellations have sapped large amounts of the
U.S. launch supply in recent years with considerably large bulk
launch orders like Telesat's SpaceX contract.
    Amazon in 2022 bagged the biggest commercial launch deal in
history for 83 missions across multiple launch companies to
deploy its Kuiper network. SpaceX aims to nearly double its
annual launch rate in 2023 thanks to its growing Starlink
constellation.

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 (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Additional reporting by Joey
Roulette in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
 ((steve.scherer@thomsonreuters.com; +1-647-480-7889;))