Astrium Satellites will lead the first project focusing on the use of satellite telecommunications to serve the needs of the whole GMES community
Toulouse, December 2006 - The three-year-long TANGO (Telecommunications Advanced Networks for GMES Operations) project, being led by Astrium, will define, adapt, integrate, and initiate satellite communications services for GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment & Security) requirements.
Satellite telecommunications will be a key component of the future GMES architecture, as GMES services are developed to support public policy makers’ needs in the domains of environment and security. Comprising a team of 24 partners across Europe, the TANGO project addresses key environment and security applications in domains such as marine services and emergency response including risk and crisis management, and humanitarian aid. TANGO is intended to provide the GMES community with access to satellite telecommunications solutions in order to meet their needs and to fulfil their missions.
TANGO aims to develop and provide operational telecommunications solutions to meet the immediate needs of the GMES community. This will also help in defining the optimal satellite telecommunications infrastructures for future GMES services.
The TANGO project will involve key players from the GMES community as well as experts from the satellite communication sector. The overall budget for TANGO is €8.9m - with €5m funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme.
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems. In 2005, Astrium had a turnover of €2.7 billion and 11,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. It has two main business units: Astrium Space Transportation, for launchers and orbital infrastructure, and Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Astrium Services, develops and delivers satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2005, EADS generated revenues of €34.2 billion and employed a workforce of more than 113,000.
Contacts for the media:
Astrium, Rémi Roland +33 (0) 1 42 24 27 34
Astrium (UK), Jeremy Close +44 14 38 77 38 72
http://www.space.eads.net
