EUTELSAT QUANTUM successfully launched

On 30 July 2021, EUTELSAT QUANTUM satellite was successfully launched on an Ariane 5 launcher from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

EUTELSAT QUANTUM was developed in association with the European Space Agency (ESA), Eutelsat and Airbus Defense and Space. It represents a new milestone in the evolution of commercial telecommunications satellites.

The EUTELSAT QUANTUM technology opens the way for fully reconfigurable geostationary satellites. With a software-based design, it enables complete onboard reconfiguration providing unprecedented flexibility for the needs of the clients in terms of coverage, frequency and power.

The EUTELSAT QUANTUM payload includes a ground-breaking multibeam active antena, called ELSA+ (Electronically Steerable Antenna+), developed by Airbus in Spain with the capability of electronic reconfiguration in orbit, including beam-hopping, and providing the operator with a maximum flexibility in the coverage zone.

GMV played an essential role in the development of the ground software for Eutelsat Quantum at all levels, not only in the area of the satellite control center and flight dynamics where GMV is Eutelsat’s lead supplier for controlling the fleet through the Neo multisatellite control system based on Hifly^® and the flight dynamics system Focussuite, but also in the development of new flexible payload management tools for Eutelsat Quantum satellite.

In payload management tools, GMV has developed new solutions in recent years that enable Eutelsat and its clients to define and implement dynamically new onboard reconfigurations optimized in coverage, power and frequency to fulfill clients’ needs at any given moment.

These new tools, called CMRS (Communication Mission Reconfiguration Software) and GEOLOC (Geolocalization Software), integrating the engineering modules provided by the satellite manufacturer Airbus, include the latest-generation software technologies based on web architectures, both in the frameworks used and in deployments based on microservices and containerization, as well as the use of Agile methodologies in the development process.