Airbus-built SpainSat NG-II new generation secure communications satellite for Spain, has been successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center, in the US. It is the second Airbus-built new generation secure communications satellite.
"Secure satellite communications play an increasingly important role in operating effectively in multiple fields, including military operations and humanitarian relief and rescue missions. With SpainSat NG, Spain will be at the forefront of Europe and among one of the few countries in the world with access to the most secure communications networks, providing our country and its allies with sovereignty and strategic autonomy," Head of Space Systems at Airbus in Spain, Raquel González Sola, said.
The launch of this second satellite has completed the SpainSat NG program. The program has been led and promoted for the Ministry of Defence by the Spanish operator Hisdesat.
It is expected that in the spring of 2026 they will jointly serve the Spanish Armed Forces, international organisations such as the European Commission in the GOVSATCOM programme, or NATO, and other allied governments.
This second satellite, operated by Hisdesat for the Spanish Armed Forces will ensure Europe’s most advanced secure communications, together with its twin satellite launched in January and already in orbit.
Following the completion of integration, testing, and validation at Airbus facilities in Toulouse, the satellite was shipped in September to Florida, where it was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Based on an Airbus Eurostar Neo platform, the approximately 7 metre, 6 ton SpainSat NG-II spacecraft, carries an X-band active receive and transmit antenna system.
Additionally, the active antennas system can eliminate and geolocate jamming attempts and is hardened to protect against potential nuclear electromagnetic pulses in orbit. The satellite payload, representing around half of the entire satellite, was designed and manufactured by the Spanish space industry, led by Airbus.
Key innovative technologies, in particular active antennas on the SpainSat NG satellites were developed as part of the Pacis 3 ESA-Hisdesat Partnership through the ESA ARTES program and supported by the Spanish Space Agency.