ESA’s new small telecom platform was launched on 28 January 2017. The Hispasat 36W-1 satellite, based on the SmallGEO platform, lifted off on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

SmallGEO is Europe’s response to the market demand for more flexible, modular telecommunications platforms. It marks the first time the German satellite manufacturing company OHB System AG have been the prime contractor for a telecommunications satellite mission. Its Hispasat payload marks the first ESA partnership with a Spanish operator.