The contract establishing the public-private partnership between ESA, Eutelsat and Airbus Defence and Space was signed on 9 July 2015 in the offices of the
European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications in
Harwell, near
Oxford in the
United Kingdom. It established the role of Eutelsat in the exploitation and commercialization of the new satellite, and Airbus's in the design and production. Airbus designs the
payload in its premises in
Portsmouth using the new “GMPT” platform developed in
Guildford by its
Surrey Satellite Technology subsidiary. This project is supported by ESA and the
UK Space Agency in the scope of the
ARTES programme for a launch initially planned for 2019. The development of the antenna is delayed and requires four years to the CASA division of Airbus and its industrial partners (
CRISA, Arquimea and
GMV) with the support of the Industrial Centre for Technology Development (
CDTI). The Ku-band active antenna, featuring eight independent reconfigurable beams, is unveiled in
Madrid on 21 November 2019 and named ELSA+ (
ELectronically Steerable Antenna+). The conducted works rely on previous accomplishments of Airbus in this field, especially the DRA/ELSA instrument designed for
Hispasat 36W1, the IRMA (
In-orbit Reconfigurable Multibeam Antenna) antenna for the
Spainsat military satellite, and
Gaia's active antenna. Quantum was assembled and tested between 2019 and 2020 in the premises of Airbus DS in
Toulouse, from where it was sent on 30 June 2021 to the
Guiana Space Centre, before being launched successfully on 30 July 2021 on board
Ariane 5 flight VA254. == See also ==