Thales Alenia Space’s ELiTeBUS and PRIMA Platforms Selected for NASA’s Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV Catalogue

NEW DELHI: Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), was selected onboard NASA’s catalogue, under the On-Ramp feature of the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid IV) contract, with two of its center of expertise, Thales Alenia Space in France and Thales Alenia Space in Italy.

The platforms selected by NASA are the ELiTeBUSTM and PRIMA platforms, which will be manufactured respectively at Thales Alenia Space facilities in Cannes and Rome.

Rapid IV is a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that allows the US federal government to place firm-fixed price delivery orders for spacecraft and related services. These multi-agency contracts may support other NASA centers and other federal agencies.

“As an incumbent in the Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) III catalogue, Thales Alenia Space is honored to have been selected again by NASA for the Rapid IV catalogue”, said Johanne Lecomte, Vice-President, Sales and Business Development, North America for Thales Alenia Space.

“Our strong heritage in building reliable platforms, such as the ELiTeBUSTM, which performance has been demonstrated in the Globalstar 1&2, O3B and Iridium® NEXT programs and the PRIMA 3 axis stabilized bus, used in many successful COSMO-SkyMed and Sentinel missions, combined with our problem solving, customer oriented approach, makes us an excellent choice as a spacecraft manufacturer for any customized missions developed under RSDO,” he added.