space industry space tourism predecessor eads space successor airbus defence and space founded december 2006 founder eads defunct 2013 reorganized headquarters paris france revenue 5.8 billion 2012 number of employees 18 000 as of 2012 update parent eads website http www.astrium.eads.net astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the european aeronautic defence and space company eads that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013 . in 2012 astrium had a turnover of 5.8 billion and 18 000 employees in france germany the united kingdom spain and the netherlands . astrium was a member of institute of space its applications and technologies . in late 2013 astrium was merged with cassidian the defence division of eads and airbus military to form airbus defence and space . 1 eads itself was reorganized as the airbus group with three divisions that include airbus airbus defence and space and airbus helicopters . 1 contents 1 business structure 1.1 satellites 2 company history 3 space transportation 4 past and current programmes 4.1 telecoms 4.2 military 4.3 earth observation 4.4 science 4.5 navigation 4.6 services 4.7 space tourism 4.8 on orbit satellite servicing 4.9 partnership 5 see also 6 references 7 external links business structure edit during 2006 2013 the three main areas of activity within astrium were citation needed astrium satellites for spacecraft and ground segment eads astrium space transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure astrium services for the development and delivery of satellite services . satellites edit astrium satellites was one of the three business units of astrium now airbus defence and space a subsidiary of eads now airbus group . it is a european space manufacturer involved in the manufacturing of spacecraft used for science earth observation and telecommunications as well as the equipment and subsystems used therein and related ground systems . eads astrium satellites employs around 8 348 people on nine sites in the united kingdom france germany and spain . as of 15 october 2012 the ceo of astrium is eric beranger who took over from evert dudok who became astrium services . company history edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2006 learn how and when to remove this template message astrium was formed in 2000 by the merger of matra marconi space itself formed from french and british companies with the space division of daimlerchrysler aerospace ag and computadores redes e ingenier a sa . henceforth astrium was a joint venture between eads and bae systems . on 16 june 2003 the minority shareholder bae systems sold its 25 % share to eads making eads the sole shareholder . astrium became eads astrium satellites and in a wider restructuring became the major constituent of eads astrium which also included eads astrium space transportation and eads astrium services . in this restructuring the former astrium space infrastructure division merged with eads launchers & vehicles division to form eads space transportation which became later eads astrium space transportation . also paradigm secure communications initially created by astrium in the frame of the skynet 5 contract for the uk ministry of defence became the major constituent of eads space services . casa espacio became part of eads astrium on 1 january 2004 . eads astrium is the sole shareholder of infoterra ltd. on 1 july 2006 the french subsidiary of eads astrium eads astrium sas merged with other french subsidiaries of eads space especially eads space transportation . the name of the new company is astrium sas . equivalent mergers have been achieved in 2006 in the other countries . the eads group does not communicate about these mergers excepted when required by the law such as in contractual documents . space transportation edit eads astrium space transportation was formed in june 2003 from the space infrastructure division of astrium whose core was originally erno and the eads launch vehicles division formerly a rospatiale s space division . until july 2006 it was called eads space transportation and was a fully owned subsidiary of eads space . in july 2006 the three subsidiaries of eads space eads space transportation eads astrium and eads space services were reintegrated into one company eads astrium of which eads astrium space transportation is a business division . currently 4397 employees work in the launcher segment . the space transportation company is the prime contractor for the ariane 5 launcher the columbus module of the international space station and the atv as well as a number of smaller projects most notably phoenix . it also builds launchers for the french nuclear missile program see also military of france such as the m51 slbm . it joined the team led by lockheed martin for a bid on nasa s crew exploration vehicle cev being in charge of the craft s mission module . the team won a contract from nasa in june 2005 . in 2005 eads astrium space transportation started a campaign in favour of a project called life for astronomy from the moon surface . the company has facilities in france les mureaux near paris and saint m dard en jalles near bordeaux and in germany ; the main facility in germany is located in bremen . after evert dudok took over from antoine bouvier as head of eads astrium satellites on 11 june 2007 alain charmeau assumed responsibility of the management of eads astrium space transportation . past and current programmes edit telecoms edit alphabus alphasat i xl amazonas 1 & 2 anik f1r & f3 arabsat 4a 4b 5a & 5c & badr 4 5 6 & 7 astra 2b 2e 2f 2g 1m 1n 3b & 5b direct tv 15 eutelsat atlantic bird 7 eutelsat w1 eutelsat w2m eutelsat w3a eutelsat 3b eutelsat mea sat 3b hellas sat hispasat 1a and 1b hylas eutelsat hot bird 2 5 eutelsat hot bird 7 10 eutelsat ka sat express am4 am4r express am7 inmarsat 2 f1 f2 f3 & f4 inmarsat 4 f1 f2 & f3 intelsat 10 02 nilesat 101 and 102 nimiq 4 orion 1 st 1 stentor telecom 2 worldstar afristar asiastar worldstar 3 yahsat 1a & 1b military edit cso forthcoming essaim helios 1b helios 2a manpack master scot skynet 4 nato iv skynet 5 satcom bw2 spirale 1a 1b earth observation edit adm aeolus alsat champ coms cryosat ers 1 & 2 envisat goce grace kompsat 2 krs forthcoming launch forecast 2014 msg meteosat metop 1 2 3 microsar pleiades formosat 2 rocsat 2 sentinel 2 sentinel 5 percusor silex spot 1 2 3 4 & 5 ssot theos terrasar x tandem x vnredsat 1 forthcoming science edit bepicolombo cassini huygens cluster ii gaia mission herschel space observatory integral lisa pathfinder mars express beagle 2 rosetta solar and heliospheric observatory soho solar orbiter ulysses venus express xmm newton nirspec navigation edit european geostationary navigation overlay service egnos galileo services edit astrium services is the services division of eads astrium . the services division specializes in military satellite communications services and currently employs about 2 200 personnel . astrium services is responsible for delivering the following services and systems astel s france telcomarsat france satcombw germany 2009 skynet provides all the uk ministry of defence satellite communications . 2 nato service provision to portugal and canada galileo 2010 space tourism edit main article eads astrium space tourism project logo used until 2010 in june 2007 eads astrium announced it would be entering the space tourism sector . on 20 june 2007 the company unveiled a model of the space jet a one stage sub orbital hybrid craft utilising both jet and rocket engines . carrying four passengers the space jet would take off from regular airports using conventional jet engines . after flying to the needed altitude the rockets would then be fired . after reaching its final altitude of 100 km passengers would experience weightlessness for three minutes . tickets were expected to cost up to 200 000 with flights possibly beginning in 2012 . 3 eads estimated the development cost would approach 1 billion euros . in march 2009 eads astrium confirmed that the programme had been placed on hold indefinitely ; the decision had been made in january of that year . 4 on orbit satellite servicing edit in september 2012 astrium won a 13 million mission definition and design contract from the dlr space administration to build a two vehicle set of spacecraft to demonstrate several technologies necessary for on orbit satellite servicing including spacecraft refuelling in order to enable satellite mission extension and also controlled disposal of a defective satellite . the project is entitled deos german orbital servicing mission and consists of two satellites a client and a servicer . the client acts as the satellite requiring maintenance or disposal . the servicer carries out the necessary work on the client . the two spacecraft will be launched together into low earth orbit of 550 kilometres 340 mi . as of 2012 update the mission will be ready for launch in 2018 . 5 partnership edit taufkirchen germany eads astrium main building in 2010 astrium signed with jsc nc kazakhstan gharysh sapary kgs the national company charged with the development of kazakhstan s space programme a contract for a satellite assembly integration and test ait centre in astana . under the contract astrium will provide and install the various test equipment mechanical radiometric thermal and acoustic facilities at the new ait centre . astrium will also assist kgs in the construction of the ait centre to ensure coordination with the test equipment . the ait centre will form part of the space city that the kazakhstan space agency kazcosmos is developing in astana . the city will also include the ground segment for the two astrium built satellites as well an administrative building and a space museum . 6 10 july 2000 1 december 2006 1 april 2009 17 september 2010 17 january 2014 27 may 2015 european aeronautic defence and space company nv airbus group nv airbus group se airbus airbus military airbus defence and space eads defence and security cassidian eads astrium eurocopter group airbus helicopters v t e see also edit spaceflight portal eads astrium space transportation aerospace industry in the united kingdom references edit a b messier doug 2014 01 05 . eads reorganizes acknowledges success of spacex . parabolic arc . retrieved 2014 01 07 . https www.paradigmsecure.com firm rockets into space tourism . bbc online . 2007 06 13 . retrieved 2007 06 13 . march rayon . eads astrium puts its space jet on hold indefinitley hyperbola . flightglobal.com . retrieved 2013 03 27 . astrium wins deos contract to demonstrate in orbit servicing . press release . eads astrium . 2012 09 13 . retrieved 2012 09 25 . kazakhstan and eads plan strategic partnership . the gazette of central asia . satrapia . 23 november 2012 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to eads astrium . official website v t e airbus group units airbus airbus defence and space airbus group inc. airbus helicopters stelia aerospace people denis ranque tom enders former units euroflag airbus military astrium cassidian eads casa eurocopter other european union defence procurement competition between airbus and boeing related a rospatiale matra construcciones aeron uticas sa dasa v t e space tourism companies armadillo aerospace bigelow aerospace blue origin airbus d & s golden spike company mojave aerospace ventures orbital sciences corporation citation needed rocketship tours sierra nevada corporation space adventures the spaceship company spacex virgin galactic xcor aerospace organizations arca association of autonomous astronauts astronaute club europ en commercial spaceflight federation copenhagen suborbitals space frontier foundation space tourism society spacecraft interplanetary transport system cst 100 spaceshiptwo soyuz dragon new shepard new glenn living in space commercialization of space space colonization space habitat space station suborbital spaceplane space competitions america s