Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd.

The biennial Farnborough Airshow once again takes to the skies, opening today for a week of high-level business discussions and showcasing of the latest in aerospace technologies. Astrium will as ever be pushing the case for space on both the EADS main stand and in the Space Zone.

The EADS pavilion will be home for the week to all four EADS Divisions – Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter. The Astrium display includes models of the soon-to-be-launched MetOp B meteorological satellite and the Skynet 5D military communications satellite, whose payload was designed and built in Portsmouth, with the service module from Stevenage.

For Astrium Services the EADS pavilion features a model of the TerraSAR-X radar monitoring satellite whose imagery is marketed by the GEO business. Satcom Systems & Solutions (3S) will be presenting its AirPatrol terminal, first launched at Farnboro’ 2010, while its sister division Business Communications will demonstrate its real-time transmission Airborne Data Service, trials for which have been on-going over recent months. On the Space Transportation side an Ariane 5 Mid-Life Evolution model will sit alongside that of the space plane – sure to be a talking point among space enthusiasts.

Moving to the Space Zone, conferences will be held throughout the week with senior attendees from ESA and UK government, as well as the Italian and Russian space agencies. A Solar Orbiter model takes pride of place for Astrium, highlighting the award of two ESA prime contracts in the UK in recent months – Sentinel 5 Precursor being the other, awarded in December. While Astrium Satellites’ Telecoms Division will be exhibiting its Astra 2F satellite, scheduled for launch this autumn. Continuing the SAR theme, presented on the EADS stand, Astrium and its subsidiary SSTL will be displaying their jointly-developed low-cost NovaSAR satellite. Also on the imaging side the innovative GO-3S concept of real-time imaging from geo-stationary orbit, as well as the Liberty launcher project for NASA, are bound to attract much interest.

And last but not least, the ‘Bridget’ Mars Rover will be putting in an appearance for her fans during the Public Days at the end of the week!