Defense Speak Interpreted: JADC2—Why It’s More Relevant Than Ever in Drone Warfare
Beyond the Board: Orbital High Ground—Why Space Superiority Is Slipping Away
The Government Circuit: Trump’s Trade War Disrupts the Electronics Ecosystem
Airbus-built SpainSat NG-I satellite Successfully Launched
January 31, 2025 | AirbusEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The first of the two Airbus-built new generation SpainSat satellites, SpainSat NG-I, has been successfully launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, in the U.S. Operated by Hisdesat for the Spanish Armed Forces, Europe’s most advanced secure communications satellite operating in UHF, Ka and X band, will enter into service in geostationary orbit from the second half of 2025, following initial testing and commissioning.
“The launch of SpainSat NG-I with cutting-edge secure communications technology enabled by our industry-leading Eurostar Neo platform is a major step for Spanish and European sovereignty. Its innovative payload, which represents more than 45% of the satellite, has been developed thanks to a joint effort of the Spanish space industry, led by Airbus,” said Alain Fauré, Head of Space Systems at Airbus Defence and Space.
Airbus Defence and Space, as prime contractor, designed, integrated and tested the satellite at the Airbus facilities in Toulouse. Airbus in Spain also developed the innovative X-band transmit and receive active antenna system, providing the functionality equivalent to 16 traditional antennas. These active antennas provide the satellite with exceptional flexibility and resilience. Their software enables them to adapt and change the coverage up to 1,000 times per second and can detect, geolocate and mitigate multiple and simultaneous interference with high precision. The satellite is also radiation hardened to protect against a potential nuclear blast.
SpainSat NG satellites will deliver a tenfold increase in communications capacity over the previous generation, allowing the transmission of more data more quickly with coverage over two thirds of the Earth’s surface.
The twin satellite SpainSat NG-II, which is currently under construction and testing at Airbus Defence and Space facilities, will be completed at the end of 2025.
Share on:
Testimonial
"The I-Connect007 team is outstanding—kind, responsive, and a true marketing partner. Their design team created fresh, eye-catching ads, and their editorial support polished our content to let our brand shine. Thank you all! "
Sweeney Ng - CEE PCBSuggested Items
Flex Delivers Advanced Power Management for Next-Generation NVIDIA AI Infrastructure
08/07/2025 | FlexFlex announced a new power shelf system to fast-track 800 VDC power architectures and support the growing demands of AI infrastructure and AI factories.
Inside the AI Hardware Boom: Servers, Substrates and Advanced Packaging
08/07/2025 | Edy Yu, Printed Circuit Information, China, and Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007AI is rewriting the hardware playbook, marrying complex software and algorithms to run and improve machine and equipment operations. Sorting through, managing, and utilizing massive amounts of data takes tremendous data storage and processing power. Enter the new generation of supercomputers and data servers. The data servers being built today are not your momma’s server, as they say.
AI Is the Golden Track Reviving Electronics and PCBs
08/06/2025 | Edy Yu, Chief Editor, ECIO, and the I-Connect007 Editorial TeamRemember 2021? Despite COVID, the electronics industry hit a high. Then came the slide. By 2023, the industry was deep in the red. With inflation, policy shifts, and exchange rate shocks, the problems were long, and the outlook was bleak. Recovery finally appeared in 2024, but it was fragile. Automotive electronics slumped, wireless demand stayed soft, and the ride up was anything but smooth. Yet, amid the uncertainty, one bright track emerged: artificial intelligence (AI).
Dana on Data: Best Practices in Interpreting Drawing Notes—‘Use Latest Revision’
08/07/2025 | Dana Korf -- Column: Dana on DataThe global nature of electronics manufacturing requires clear, consistent, and precise communication, particularly in technical documentation. An area where miscommunication often arises is in interpreting drawing notes—small lines of text with the potential to dramatically impact product quality, manufacturing efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
ViTrox Unveils Smart 3D AOI Solutions, Pioneering Dual-Sided Inspection and Robotic Vision Solutions for Back-end Assembly Processes
08/04/2025 | ViTroxViTrox, which strives to be the World’s Most Trusted Technology Company, proudly announces the launch of its new-generation innovations in Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) technology for back-end assembly processes.