The E1.3bn contract to construct the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) weather satellite constellation has finally been awarded to the consortium led by Thales Alenia Space and OHB.
While the European Space Agency (ESA) had previously selected the…
The E1.3bn contract to construct the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) weather satellite constellation has finally been awarded to the consortium led by Thales Alenia Space and OHB.
While the European Space Agency (ESA) had previously selected the consortium to enter into exclusive negotiations back in March, the process got held up as the German government objected to the fact that its firms were only getting a minority role in the construction.
In spite of the fact that OHB is part of the selected consortium, the Germans objected to France-based Thales being the prime contractor given that Germany is the largest single contributor to the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat). The organisation will fund around 75% of the total estimated E3.5bn costs of the ongoing MTG project, with ESA the remainder.
As a solution, the German operations of EADS Astrium are now expected to be contracted to develop the instrumentation for the two sounding satellites. The MTG constellation consists of six satellites in total, four of which are imaging spacecraft while two are equipped with atmospheric sounders to analyse the layers of atmosphere.
At a council meeting of Eumetsat in Rome on June 22, the proposal was subsequently given the green light by all the members with the German and Portuguese members voting yes ad referendum.
Thales and OHB had beaten a rival bid from a consortium led by EADS Astrium.