GMV to develop the ground control center for Hisdesat’s new satellites

Spanish government satellite operator Hisdesat has awarded multinational GMV a contract to build and develop the ground segment of the SPAINSAT NG program satellites.

These two new satellites, scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025 respectively, will replace the operator’s current SpainSat and XTAR-EUR satellites and significantly improve on their performance and capabilities.

The main control and tracking station will be located in Madrid (Spain) and will feature state-of-the-art technologies to provide service to the SpainSat NG satellites, the most advanced satellites in Europe for defense and secure communications. The redundant station will be located at INTA’s Maspalomas Space Station.

GMV will be primarily responsible for integrating all the systems and subsystems and the horizontal services that will manage the two SpainSat NGs from the ground.

It will also deploy the control centers, which will be equipped with cutting-edge technologies, most notably in the control system for telecommunications payloads. This system is particularly complex for software-defined satellites such as the SpainSat NGs.

Finally, it will develop and implement the system responsible for monitoring the payload of the satellites’ various frequency bands (X, Ka and UHF).

Last June, Hisdesat launched an international tender for the ground segment of the SPAINSAT NG program, divided into four lots due to its size. Competing against the sector’s leading companies, GMV won the bulk of the project by submitting the strongest technical bids.

According to Miguel Ángel García Primo, CEO of Hisdesat, launching this control center will be “a new milestone” in the race to launch the SpainSat NG satellites. He said: “The technology in the ground control center is as important as the technology in the satellite itself. That is why Hisdesat has placed its trust in the top supplier in the ground segment for what will be the most advanced satellites in Europe”.

For Jesús B. Serrano, CEO of GMV, “this new contract further tightens the close partnership between GMV and Hisdesat, a relationship that dates back to 2002. It’s a real pleasure that Hisdesat has once again placed its trust in GMV’s expertise for the new generation of Spanish government satellites. Given the complexity and sophistication of these new satellites, the contract is a new challenge for us, one that we take on with great enthusiasm.”

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