Telesat, the Canadian global telecommunications satellite operator, announced that the two teams tasked with designing a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation have completed system requirements reviews. The teams are Airbus Defence and Space and a consortium of Thales Alenia Space and Maxar Technologies. Telesat will choose a prime contractor later in 2019.
The company mainly operates geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) satellites but is shifting to LEO satellites to “offer low latency, high throughput broadband services.” The satellites will likely be produced and launched in the early to mid-2020s.
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