Telesat: programs, progress and news

Analyst view

Canadian operator with CA$2.54 billion government funding completed September 2024 for Lightspeed constellation.
Expanded to 225 satellites after $2.3 billion military contract (August 2026) for Arctic and allied defense.
MDA manufacturing at Quebec facility ramping to two satellites per day; first pathfinder launches December 2026.

As reported

Constellation Design

Optical links provide resilient connectivity without ground gateways; expanded from 156 to 225 for military Ka-band.

Manufacturing

Quebec facility uses automation and cobots for two-satellite-per-day production rate.

Mission Bands

Commercial and military Ka-band services; 500 MHz dedicated to allied defense and Arctic ops.

Launch Strategy

Up to 18 satellites per Falcon 9 over 14 planned missions; dedicated capacity secured via multi-launch agreement.

Programs

Telesat, one program

Updated 1 Aug 2026

Research · Proto · Pilot · Deploy · Scaling

Open · Active · Partial

Manufacturing rampActive research
Ramping to 225 satellites while maintaining quality for December 2026 launch deadline.
Spectrum coordinationOpen
Military Ka-band spectrum must be carefully coordinated with terrestrial systems to avoid interference, especially in Arctic regions.

Company-wide

Satellites · 8

2 rounds · as reported

Date	Round	Amount	Post-money	Lead
Aug 2026	Military funding (ESCP-P Arctic)	$1.7B	—	—
Sep 2024	Government funding (Canada/Quebec)	$1.9B	—	—

2 suppliers · 1 investor

Supplier
MDA Space (opens mda.space)
Prime contractor for satellite design, manufacture, and assembly in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue; initial CA$2.1 billion contract expanded to cover 225 satellites.
Supplier
SpaceX (opens spacex.com)
Providing 14 Falcon 9 launch missions; up to 18 satellites per launch.
Investor
Government of Canada (opens canada.ca)
Provided CA$2.54 billion in financing and CA$2.3 billion in military contract funding for Lightspeed.

Key people