SES S.A. and QinetiQ, partners in the ESA-Redu Space
Centre, are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) ensuring the longtime and sustained
development of the ESA ground facility in Redu, Belgium.
The MOU was signed on site today by Ministers Philippe
Courard (Belgium) and Etienne Schneider (Luxembourg),
Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, Eddy Maldague,
Director General of Redu Space Services (RSS) and RSS
Shareholders, Frank Preud’homme, Director General of QinetiQ
Space N.V, as well as Martin Halliwell, CTO of SES, and
Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director of SES TechCom.
The agreement highlights the role of the ESA Centre as
the ideal place to host space-based activities, services and
applications with a high level of security for the benefits
of ESA and its partners, as well as a centre of excellence
able to welcome and cater for engineers, scientists and
students. Acknowledging the strategic importance of the Redu
Centre, the Parties to the MoU identify potential common
areas of cooperation with a view to further developing the
Redu Centre and to contributing together to its mid- to
long-term sustainable development.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and RSS furthermore
signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on the extension of the
contractual relationship between ESA and RSS for a further
five years. RSS was appointed by the European Space Agency
to perform the maintenance & operations of the Redu Space
Centre in 2007 until 2017.
