Alphasat mating with Alphabus platform

Alphasat, the largest telecommunications satellite ever built, is here seen mating with Alphabus, the new European telecom platform developed by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space under a joint contract with ESA and France’s CNES space agency. 

Alphasat was engineered and built by Astrium through a public–private partnership (PPP) between ESA and Inmarsat and allows for in-orbit validation of the new Alphabus platform, which will service the worldwide telecom satellite market