Thales Alenia Space in the context of "Cygnus (spacecraft)"

Toulouse (/tuːˈluːz/, too-LOOZ, French: [tuluz] ; Occitan: Tolosa [tuˈluzɔ] ) is a city in Southern France, the prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea, 230 km (143 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km (420 mi) from Paris. It is the fourth-largest city in France after Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, with 511,684 inhabitants within its municipal boundaries (2022); its metropolitan area has a population of 1,513,396 inhabitants (2022). Toulouse is the central city of one of the 22 metropolitan councils of France. Between the 2014 and 2020 censuses, its metropolitan area was the third fastest growing among metropolitan areas larger than 500,000 inhabitants in France.

Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the SPOT satellite system, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. It hosts the CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST) which is the largest national space centre in Europe, but also, on the military side, the newly created NATO space centre of excellence and the French Space Command and Space Academy. Safran, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, Collins Aerospace and Liebherr-Aerospace also have a significant presence in Toulouse.

Airbus Defence and Space is the defence and space systems subsidiary of Airbus. Formed in 2014 during the restructuring of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, the predecessor of Airbus. The subsidiary consists of the company's the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and Cassidian [de] divisions. Contributing 21% of Airbus revenues in 2016, it is the second largest space company in the world.

Plans have been announced to merge the Space Systems and Space Digital divisions of Airbus Defence and Space, Telespazio, and Thales Alenia Space into a new joint venture owned by Airbus (35%), Leonardo (32.5%), and Thales (32.5%). The combined entity would have had an estimated annual turnover of €6.5 billion. If approved by regulators, the new company is expected to be operational in 2027.

Tranquility, also known as Node 3, is a module of the International Space Station (ISS). It contains environmental control systems, life support systems, a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) had Tranquility manufactured by Thales Alenia Space. A ceremony on November 20, 2009, transferred ownership of the module to NASA. On February 8, 2010, NASA launched the module on the Space Shuttle's STS-130 mission.

Columbus is a science laboratory module that forms part of the International Space Station (ISS) and represents the European Space Agency's (ESA) largest single contribution to the station. It was constructed in Turin, Italy, by Alcatel Alenia Space (now Thales Alenia Space) with functional equipment and software designed by EADS (now Airbus Defence and Space) in Bremen, Germany. The module was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on 7 February 2008, during mission STS-122. Columbus is operated by the Columbus Control Centre at the German Space Operations Center, part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich. In 2008, ESA estimated the total cost of Columbus—including construction, ten years of operations, scientific experiments, and supporting ground infrastructure—at approximately €1.4 billion (about US$2 billion).

SHARAD (Mars SHAllow RADar sounder) is a subsurface sounding radar embarked on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe. It complements the MARSIS radar on Mars Express orbiter, providing lower penetration capabilities (some hundred meters) but much finer resolution of 15 meters in free space.

SHARAD was developed under the responsibility of the Italian Space Agency (ASI, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), and provided to JPL for use on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in the frame of a NASA/ASI agreement which foresees exploitation of the data by a joint Italian/US team. The INFOCOM dept. of the University of Sapienza University of Rome is responsible for the instrument operations, while Thales Alenia Space Italia (formerly Alenia Spazio) designed and built the instruments. SHARAD operations are managed by INFOCOM from the SHARAD Operation Centre (SHOC), located within the Alcatel Alenia Space facilities in the suburbs of Rome.

Leonardo S.p.A., is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest defence contractor in the world based on 2020 revenues. The company is partially owned by the Italian government, which holds 30.2% of the company's shares and is its largest shareholder.

On 1 January 2016, Leonardo-Finmeccanica became a single industrial company by integrating the activities of its subsidiaries AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi, DRS Technologies, Selex ES, OTO Melara and WASS. The company is organised into five divisions (Helicopters, Aircraft, Aerostructures, Electronics, Cybersecurity). It is also the parent company and corporate centre for the subsidiaries and joint ventures Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space, MBDA and ATR. Leonardo is listed on the Borsa Italiana and is a constituent of the FTSE MIB and Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.

Telespazio Spa is a European spaceflight services joint venture between Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (67%) and the French technology corporation Thales Group (33%). It forms one half of the Space Alliance along with Thales Alenia Space which is also owned by Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%).

Telespazio provides services that include the design and development of space systems, the management of launch services and in-orbit satellite control, Earth observation services, integrated communications, satellite navigation and localization and scientific programmes. The company manages space infrastructure, such as the Fucino Space Centre - and is involved in programmes including Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, COSMO-SkyMed, SICRAL and Göktürk.