Successful launch of ALSAT 2B completes Airbus Defence and Space’s ALSAT Programme

Summary

• - ALSAT 2B and 2A will operate in constellation mode - Technology transfer programme enabled in-country construction of spacecraft in Algeria by Algerian engineers

Algeria’s Earth observation satellite ALSAT 2B, built by Algerian engineers through a technology transfer programme, has successfully been delivered into orbit on a PSLV launcher operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 26th September 2016.

The launch of ALSAT 2B is the final step in the ALSAT-2 programme for the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL). Airbus Defence and Space awarded ALSAT-2 contract in 2006.

ALSAT 2A was built and tested by Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse in partnership with 30 engineers from ASAL, while ALSAT 2B was integrated by ASAL’s engineers themselves in-country at Algeria’s Satellite Development Centre (UDPS) in Oran.

ALSAT 2B weighs approximately 125 kilograms and has a metric-cube size of 60x60x130 centimetres. The satellite will operate in low Earth orbit and has a design life of five years.

The satellite’s twin, ALSAT 2A, was launched in 2010 and is currently operating well beyond its five-year design lifetime. The Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) can now benefit from the extended operations of this satellite by operating ALSAT 2A and ALSAT 2B as a constellation on a phased orbit, enabling optimized revisit frequency.

The twin satellites deliver imagery with a 2.5 m resolution, used for a wide variety of applications such as cartography, agriculture and forestry, water management, mineral and oil exploitation, yield management, natural disaster management and urban planning.

ALSAT 2B satellite was built in Algeria following a comprehensive capability building and technology transfer programme.

“We are very pleased with the effectiveness of our technology transfer programmes,” said Nicolas Chamussy, head of Airbus Defence and Space, Space Systems. “During the former programme, we trained the Algerian engineers to give them all the skills needed to construct a satellite. The result is ALSAT 2B!”

ALSAT 2B’s great success demonstrates that ASAL’s engineers are fully competent and have acquired a great autonomy through this programme.

About Airbus Defence and Space

Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Airbus Group, is Europe’s number one defence and space enterprise and the second largest space business worldwide. Its activities include space, military aircraft and related systems and services. It employs more than 38,000 people and in 2015 generated revenues of over 13 billion Euros.