Consulting & Operator Services

Ground System Consulting Services

As a result of its impeccable operating record, Telesat is frequently approached by other satellite operators to design and implement their satellite control facilities and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) earth stations.

Telesat designed and implemented its entire ground systems infrastructure consisting of the Satellite Control Center located at the Company's headquarters near Ottawa and its worldwide TT&C network. Telesat's primary TT&C facility is located in Allan Park near Toronto and is backed-up by another facility in Edmonton, Alberta. Telesat has TT&C facilities in Lockridge and Gnangara, Australia which are used to support transfer orbit missions in C-, Ku- and BSS-bands for the majority of today's satellite manufacturers.

Telesat is unique amongst current satellite operators in its approach to system construction. Rather than procuring a new control system with each new satellite contract, as is common practice by other operators, Telesat has avoided the cost of a completely new system by performing its own incremental additions to the existing system. Since the launch of Anik A1 in 1972, Telesat has expanded and modified the satellite control system to accommodate seven (7) subsequent satellite generations using the same control system platform, an operations milestone and the first ever attempted by a satellite operator.

Similarly, Telesat's design and operational TT&C expertise has also evolved with each generation of Anik satellites. With every new Anik generation, Telesat managed the TT&C upgrade program and was responsible for all engineering, assembly, installation, and tests.

Telesat has the expertise to design, construct and engineer the following elements of a satellite ground system:

Satellite Control Center Systems (Primary & Back-Up)
Telemetry, Tracking & Command Systems (Primary & Back-Up)
Satellite-Specific Equipment (command generators, telemetry processors and flight recorders)

Such services can be provided for geostationary satellites, inclined orbit satellites, mobile satellites and satellite constellations.

Other space-related expertise available from Telesat includes:

Additional advisory services are also available: in fact, any skill set that Telesat requires to operate its day-to-day satellite business can be made available upon request.