Leonardo has announced a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) . The framework contract, signed by Leonardo’s Luton-based and BARSC Member, Telespazio VEGA UK subsidiary and worth €11M per year for up to five years, will see the company provide subject matter experts to ESA in support of their programmes and missions.

The ESA’s satellite programmes demand world class expertise and need to be innovative, robust, secure and work first time, every time. Telespazio VEGA UK is able to draw on the pan-European presence of the Telespazio Group to provide high quality staff, with a wide variety of engineering skill sets, to all of the ESA’s locations in Europe. Such skill sets include satellite communications/navigation, remote sensing, integrated applications, software and control systems, automation, optics, electromagnetics, power/radio-frequency systems, science operations, and training support for astronauts.

Leonardo is a major player in the international Space industry and is strongly committed to its Space business in the UK. This is in line with the ambitions of the UK Government which has identified the Space industry as a key sector for economic growth and is a major investor in British Space technology and research.

A key part of Leonardo’s Space business is delivered through its majority-owned subsidiary Telespazio (Leonardo 67%, Thales 33%), one of the world’s leading players in satellites services which is headquartered in Rome. Telespazio VEGA UK is Telespazio’s UK-based subsidiary.