SES Astra and Verhaert Space, a QinetiQ company, announced today they have secured a major long-term service agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to maintain and operate the Belgian satellite ground station in Redu. The activities conducted by the ESA Redu station comprise ground control and in-orbit testing of satellites for ESA missions.
Verhaert Space and the SES Astra subsidiary TechCom will provide maintenance and operations services to ESA at the Redu station. For this purpose the two companies have founded a joint Belgian company, Redu Space Service. The 10-year contract allows the new company also to offer satellite and operations services to third party customers.
