Altice Portugal and ThothX have established a strategic partnership to reactivate telecommunications infrastructure on São Miguel Island in the Azores, creating new deep-space radar capabilities to support the monitoring of geostationary orbits and contribute to the security of European space assets.
The project involves the refurbishment and conversion of a 32-metre telecommunications antenna into a deep-space radar facility. Once operational, the infrastructure will contribute to the observation and monitoring of objects in geostationary and geosynchronous (GEO) orbits, home to satellites supporting critical civil and military services including communications, navigation, broadcasting and atmospheric monitoring.
The Azores facility will become an important component of ThothX’s international expansion. Together with the company’s existing 46-metre radar in Canada and its 30-metre antenna project in Australia, it is expected to contribute to approximately 95% coverage of the GEO belt.
Its location in the North Atlantic is particularly suited to persistent observation over the Atlantic and Europe. By combining existing telecommunications infrastructure with ThothX’s proprietary radar technology, the project will strengthen Space Situational Awareness capabilities while demonstrating how legacy infrastructure can be repurposed to address emerging requirements in the space domain.
The initiative also reinforces the potential of the Azores within the European space ecosystem, opening opportunities for future scientific and technological cooperation alongside its operational role.
