Editing Matra Marconi Space

{{Short description|Former Franco-British aerospace company}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox company
| name          = Matra Marconi Space
| logo          = 
| type          = Subsidiary
| fate          = Merged with [[DaimlerChrysler Aerospace|DASA]] in 2000
| predecessor   = Matra Espace<br>Marconi Space Systems
| successor     = [[Astrium]]
| foundation    = 1990
| founder       = 
| defunct       = 2000
| location      = [[Toulouse]], [[France]]
| key_people    = 
| area_served   = 
| industry      = Spacecraft
| products      = Satellites
| revenue       = 
| net_income    = 
| assets        = 
| equity        = 
| num_employees =
| parent        = [[Matra]] (51%)<br>GEC-Marconi (49%)
| homepage      = 
| footnotes     = 
}}

'''Matra Marconi Space''' ('''MMS''') was a [[France|Franco]]-[[United Kingdom|British]] [[aerospace company]].

== History ==
Matra Marconi Space was established in 1990 as a joint venture between the space and telecommunication division of the French conglomerate [[Matra]] (Matra Espace) and that of the British [[General Electric Company|GEC]] group ([[Marconi Space and Defence Systems|Marconi Space Systems]]). The new company was announced in December 1989 and was owned 51% by Matra and 49% by GEC-Marconi. It would have annual sales of £300 million, with £8.7 million in assets from Marconi Space Systems and £10.7 million in assets from Matra Espace.

Claude Goumy, the Managing Director of Matra Espace was the first Managing Director. The first deputy Managing Director was Richard Wignall, the former Managing Director of Marconi Space Systems. The space industry was important to France - almost half the budget of the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) came from the French government.

=== Acquisitions ===
In 1991, [[British Aerospace]] was discussing with MMS how to merge their space interests, as well as [[Robert Bosch GmbH]] and [[DaimlerChrysler Aerospace|Deutsche Aerospace]].

On 19 July 1994, it acquired [[British Aerospace Space Systems]] (a subsidiary of [[BAe Dynamics]] with 900 workers) for £56 million. On 11 August 1994, it bought [[Ferranti|Ferranti Satcomms]] (from [[administration (insolvency)|administration]]), which was based in [[Poynton]] in [[Cheshire]]. Ferranti Satcomms brought satellite ground station, component and subsystem technologies to the group.

In July 1995, GEC bought 45% of shares in the National Remote Sensing Centre for the company. Also in July 1995, the company was looking to link up with the French state giant [[Aérospatiale]] and DASA of [[Germany]] to form a Europe-wide space company. The company would (five years later) link up with DASA.

By 1996, the company was turning over more than £1 billion. In the late 1990s, it developed a partnership with the [[University of Sheffield]]'s Sheffield Centre for Earth Observation Science (SCEOS), which researched [[interferometry]].

In November 1997, it announced that it would close the Filton site (former [[BAe Dynamics]]) in August 1999, with the planned transfer of 300 of 400 personnel and staff from Bristol to Stevenage. The Filton site specialised in scientific satellites and their computer software; projects included [[Ulysses (spacecraft)|Ulysses]], [[Hubble Space Telescope]] Solar Arrays, [[Giotto (spacecraft)|Giotto]], [[Envisat]] / Polar Platform, [[Solar and Heliospheric Observatory]] (SoHO) and the [[Cluster (spacecraft)|Cluster]] spacecraft destroyed in the first flight of [[Ariane 5]]. Over 380 staff left the Company and, as a result, MMS lost the ESA prime contract for the [[Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta]] spacecraft. British Aerospace regained an interest in the company when it merged with GEC's [[Marconi Electronic Systems]] to form [[BAE Systems]] in November 1999.

=== Astrium ===
In late 1998, it was discussing a possible merger with [[DaimlerChrysler Aerospace|DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG]] (DASA).
In 2000, it was merged with the space division of DASA to form [[Astrium]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barbaroux |first=Pierre |last2=Laperche |first2=Blandine |date=2013 |title=The failed birth of a giant: lessons learned from the collapse of the EADS / BAE systems merger |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-journal-of-innovation-economics-2013-2-page-103.htm |journal=Journal of Innovation Economics & Management |language=fr |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=103–125 |doi=10.3917/jie.012.0103 |issn=2032-5355}}</ref>

== Management ==
* [[Jean-Bernard Lévy]] (1993-1994)
* Roger Wood (1994-1996)

== Products ==
* [[Skylark (rocket)]], [[sounding rocket]] designed earlier in the 1960s, [[List of rockets launched from Esrange|last launched]] on 2 May 2005 (its 441st flight - [[Maser (rocket)|Maser 10]]) from the [[Esrange]] site of the [[Swedish Space Corporation]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-05-01 |title=UK Skylark rocket launch delayed |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4502823.stm |access-date=2025-02-07 |work=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>
* Radar for the [[European Remote-Sensing Satellite]] (ERS-1)
* Altitude and orbit-control system for [[XMM-Newton]], which was launched on 10 December 1999
* Advanced [[synthetic aperture radar]] (ASAR) on the [[Envisat]]
* Propulsion systems (built at Filton) for four [[Cluster (spacecraft)|Cluster]] satellites, which were destroyed on 4 June 1996 on the [[Ariane 5G, Flight 501]]
* Technologies for [[Artemis (satellite)|Artemis satellite]]

=== Satellites ===
* [[Ariel 6]]
* [[AfriStar]], constructed with [[Thales Alenia Space|Alcatel Space]]
* [[AsiaStar]], constructed with [[Thales Alenia Space|Alcatel Space]]
* [[Hélios 1B|Hélios]] (Europe's first) spy satellite
* [[Hipparcos]], constructed with [[Thales Alenia Space|Alenia Spazio]]
* [[Hot Bird|Hot Bird 2]], the largest satellite made in Europe at the time and launched in November 1996, and other later Hot Bird satellites for [[Eutelsat]]
* [[Humidity Sounder for Brazil]] - launched in May 2002
* Early [[Inmarsat]] satellites
* [[Nilesat 101]] - launched in April 1998, for [[ERTU]]
* [[Nilesat 102]] - launched in August 2000
* [[Skynet (satellite)|Skynet satellite]]
* [[Solar and Heliospheric Observatory]] (SoHo) - launched on 2 December 1995
* Three satellites for [[1worldspace]], launched in 1999

== See also ==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[Matra BAe Dynamics]], related missile company
* [[Alstom|GEC Alsthom]], another GEC Anglo-French company

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{General Electric Company plc}}
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Toulouse]]
[[Category:Defence companies of France]]
[[Category:Defence companies of the United Kingdom]]
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[[Category:Defunct technology companies of France]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of France]]
[[Category:Electronics companies of France]]
[[Category:Electronics companies of the United Kingdom]]
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[[Category:General Electric Company]]
[[Category:Guglielmo Marconi]]
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[[Category:British companies established in 1996]]
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[[Category:French companies disestablished in 2000]]