Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The East of England stands to receive a multi-million pound windfall following the award of a €500m (£359m) European space satellite programme to the UK’s Inmarsat by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Inmarsat XL satellite - billed as the the most technically advanced civilian satellite in the world - will be designed at Astrium’s Stevenage site, securing more than 125 high skilled jobs in the region for the first three years of the programme and meaning that about €60 million of funds from the project will be channelled through the Hertfordshire facility, according to the East of England Development Agency.

The public/private finance bid was backed with a total of £36m from EEDA, London Development Agency (LDA) and South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).  

The UK funding will be matched at a ratio of around 1:10 with investment from the European Space Agency - made up of European and Canadian publicly funded Space organisations.

The wider benefits highlighted by EEDA include improved communications for the region “as the additional coverage provided by the new satellite will enable even the most remote and disadvantaged parts of the East of England to communicate more effectively.”

EEDA chief executive, David Marlow, said that further high-tech jobs could be created as the project progresses: “This programme will help to secure more than 125 high skilled jobs and generate many more over the next few years. It will also give Astrium the competitive edge for future satellite programmes.”

Alphasat I-XL will have a next generation digital processor and solar array drive mechanism developed by Astrium UK with support from the British National Space Centre.  The satellite will support a new generation of mobile technologies and enable communications across Europe and Africa – potentially creating new business opportunities for UK companies, according to EEDAS. 

The project is expected to retain over 500 high technology jobs within the Greater South East region during the development and operation of the satellite, with a projected flow of revenue into the region of £250 million.

Bidding for the project was managed by the ESA, which awarded the contract to Inmarsat over the competing French company Eutelsat.