Indra Group completed the engineering development for the mission involving the Startical IOD-2 satellite—all within two years. The company was created by ENAIRE and Indra to provide communication and surveillance services via space and improve air traffic management.

The demo satellite, launched via the SpaceX Transporter-14 mission, will contribute to the development and design of the future constellation of more than 200 low-orbit satellites set to provide global coverage and transform aviation, delivering greater efficiency, capacity and sustainability around the world.

The payload is based on an advanced high-power VHF amplifier that’s key to enabling long-range satellite communications, particularly in oceanic and remote areas without any current coverage. The amplifier, developed by Indra Group, will facilitate new tests as part of the IOD-2 mission. With its VHF antenna measuring nearly four meters, the largest ever built and launched into space, the aim of the Startical-led mission is to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the system for real-time voice, data and aeronautical surveillance communications via space.

With the creation of Indra Space, the company will be able to cover the entire value chain of a space project, from mission design to satellite development and manufacturing, ground segment deployment and mission operations.

This project for IOD-2 not only reflects the technological maturity of Indra Group’s solutions for a sector as highly demanding as space, it also shows that we’re fully capable of taking on the leadership of comprehensive space missions, with critical technologies validated and qualified for the purpose. This milestone offers proof of our status as a reliable and internationally competitive strategic integrator,” said Fernando García Martínez-Peñalver, Indra’s director of Space.