European leader for satellite systems and at the forefront of orbital infrastructures, Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%) and forms with Telespazio a Space Alliance. Thales Alenia Space is a worldwide reference in telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. Thales Alenia Space has 11 industrial sites in 4 European countries (France, Italy, Spain and Belgium ETCA & Antwerp) with over 7,200 employees worldwide. #1 worldwide in terms of satellites ordered in 2006, Thales Alenia Space is at the heart of the most high-performance satellite technologies in both civil and defense sectors.Today, Thales Alenia Space is the leading European supplier of satellite-based solutions for Defense and Security, with strong positions in both satellite and space and ground segments. More information at http://www.thalesgroup.com/Markets/Space/What_we_do/Observation_and_Environment/