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SEOSat: Spain's Observation Satellite to EADS

posted by Satri on Thursday April 24, @09:40AM        Permalink  Trackback URI  Slashdotthis  Diggthis  Del.icio.us
from the launch-my-satellite-to-the-stars dept.

spacer writes "After a longer-than-expected evaluation, Spain's aerospace institute CDTI and the European Space Agency (ESA) seem to have entered negotiation with EADS CASA for the spanish national observation satellite SEOSat-Ingenio. (The alternate offer was from Thales-España, who in spite of a better technical offer failed for not obtaining any commitment from other spanish companies, all of them exclusively dealing with EADS.) SEOSat-Ingenio is a SPOT-class observation satellite (2.5m multispectral) scheduled for launch in 2012.

To some extent this may depict an European scene where after launchers (Ariane) and aeronautics industry (Airbus), all space observation also turns owned by the EADS monopoly. (touchstone to this will be the allocation of Meteosat third generation spacecrafts contract, later this year, for which competition is also theoretically open). The role of ESA in these deals more and more appears closer to the ordinary European Union political money allocation process ('obeying to geographical return') than to a technical advisor."

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• Thales sues?

  (Score:1, Interesting)

  by Anonymous Voxel on Monday April 28, @02:00PM (#2333)

  I understand Thales is sueing. Someone knows why?

  [ Reply to This ]
  • Re:Thales sues?

    (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Esaleg (1589) on Monday May 05, @02:44AM (#2347)

    There could be many reasons. Technically Thales was better in almost every feature. Then Esa tender evaluation board members were told to write their text so that the comments in each proposal are more similar, and to lower Thales grades. In the end, at the last board meeting the results were so much deterministic for EADS that many reviewers left before the end.
    
    Now this may seem shocking but is very common in Esa because there are criterias other than technic and for instance here there was a poor industrial group behind Thales. In such case Estec always selects the more safe indus. group even if the technical results are poorer, even if it is possible than there were illegal exclusivity agreements (this you can never proof). Once Esa management has made up his mind the grades are improved so that there is a sufficient distance between winner and looser, and this process is quite logical if you think about it. (You decided: now avoid trouble by not having grades too close.)
    It is just that this is the latest evaluation, and maybe the grade changes was more large than usual. Because it is the latest, you hear about it at the copy machine or the coffee corner. Young engineers are shocked ;-)
    
    To really be argued in this case there must be something else, maybe they have a proof of exclusivity, or there is an issue with costing.
    
    Also think that there was the spanish delegates involved in the choice. They constantly favored Thales up to almost the end, but in the end everyone agrees...

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]