The Cannes Mandelieu Space Center is an industrial plant dedicated to spacecraft

Spacecraft

A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

 manufacturing, located in both the towns of Cannes

Cannes

Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 and Mandelieu in France. After a long history in aircraft manufacturer, starting in 1929, the center became more and more involved in the Aerospace

Aerospace

Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...

 activities after the Second World War, and satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

s are now the plant's main produce.

After having been the Satellite Division of Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale was a French aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale...

, then Alcatel Space in 1998, then Alcatel Alenia Space in 2005, the center is now part, since April 10, 2007 of Thales Alenia Space

Thales Alenia Space

Thales Alenia Space is an aerospace company born after the Thales Group bought the participation of Alcatel in the two joint-ventures between Alcatel and Finmeccanica, Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio.-History:...

 and the headquarter of the company.

As prime contractor

• the series of Meteosat
  Meteosat
  The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme and the Meteosat Second Generation program....
  
   first and second generation
• the series of communication satellites Spacebus
  Spacebus
  Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and fifty-two have been launched since development started in the 1980s. Spacebus was originally produced by...
  
  
• the series of Globalstar's second-generation satellites
• the series of O3b satellite constellation
  O3b satellite constellation
  The O3b Satellite Constellation is a new satellite constellation designed for telecommunications and data backhaul from remote locations. The new constellation is scheduled for deployment in mid 2012 and will initially be made up of 8 satellites with plans to extend this to 16.The constellation is...
  
  
• the Infrared Space Observatory
  Infrared Space Observatory
  The Infrared Space Observatory was a space telescope for infrared light designed and operated by the European Space Agency , in cooperation with ISAS and NASA...
  
  
• the Huygens
  Huygens probe
  The Huygens probe was an atmospheric entry probe carried to Saturn's moon Titan as part of the Cassini–Huygens mission. The probe was supplied by the European Space Agency and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens....
  
   space probe, which landed on Titan
  Titan (moon)
  Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
  
  
• the Proteus
  Proteus (Satellite)
  Proteus is the name of the multimission platform satellite developed by CNES and Aérospatiale Satellite Division in France....
  
   series of small low earth orbit satellites, including
  • the COROT
    Corot
    Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology* COROT-7, a dwarf star in the Monoceros constellation...
    
     satellite
  • Jason-1  & Jason-2
  • the CALIPSO
    CALIPSO
    CALIPSO is a joint NASA and CNES environmental satellite, built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, which was launched atop a Delta II rocket on April 28, 2006. Its name stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations...
    
     satellite
• the Planck spacecraft
• the Herschel Space Observatory
  Herschel Space Observatory
  The Herschel Space Observatory is a European Space Agency space observatory sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands. It is the largest space telescope ever launched, carrying a single mirror of in diameter....
  
  

As the main subcontractor

• the cameras for the French military observation satellites Helios-1
  Helios 1B
  The Hélios 1B was a French military photo-reconnaissance satellite in which Italy and Spain also participated. It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana on 3 December 1999 at 16:22:00 UTC. The spacecraft rode aboard an Ariane 40 rocket which also carried the French military...
  
   and Helios-2
  Helios 2A
  The Helios 2 system includes Helios 2A and Helios 2B, both of which are european military observation satellites used by France, Belgium, Spain . Helios 2A was launched on December 18, 2004 by an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Helios 2B was launched five years later on December 18, 2009,...
  
  
• the IASI interferometer embarked on-board Metop
  MetOp
  MetOp is a series of polar orbiting meteorological satellites operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. The satellites are all part af the EUMETSAT Polar System. It is intended to replace the soon to be retired TIROS network...
  
  
• the MERIS
  MERIS
  MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer is one of the main instruments on board the European Space Agency 's Envisat platform.This instrument is composed of five cameras disposed side by side, each equipped with a pushbroom spectrometer. These spectrometers use two-dimensional CCDs...
  
   camera embarked on-board the ENVISAT
  Envisat
  Envisat is an Earth-observing satellite. It was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guyana into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of...
  
  mission.

Interactive/Multimedia

• Official Thales Alenia Space Website