Areas of activity

INSA, created in 1992, is the largest Spanish company in the space sector by number of employees and within the field of space services INSA is a commercial firm 100% property of the National Institute for Aerospace Technique (INTA), a body of the Spanish Ministry of Defence.

INSA’s activities are divided in two main areas:

• Ground Stations: INSA is responsible for the operations and maintenance of satellite tracking and data reception facilities in NASA’s (Robledo de Chavela/Madrid), ESA’s (Villafranca/Madrid and Cebreros/Ávila) and INTA’s (Maspalomas/Gran Canaria) space centres in Spain. INSA also performs Quality Assurance activities in French Guiana (Kourou).
• Engineering: INSA’s engineering activities comprise all the phases from definition to customer support after delivery of ground segment systems, satellite communications, and new services based on aerospace systems (in particular risk management systems).

INSA holds a 30% participation in HISDESAT Strategic Services S.A., which is a satellite operator company for governmental communications. HISDESAT owns the SpainSat satellite.

Likewise, and through its participation in HISDESAT, INSA is present in the Board of Directors of XTAR LLC, the company that owns the XTAR-EUR satellite, in orbit since February 2005.

INSA is member of Proespacio (Spanish Association of Space Sector Companies) since 2002 and member of EARSC (European Association of Remote Sensing Companies). Furthermore, INSA is partner of the Defence and Security Technology Circle (Círculo de las Tecnologías de la Defensa), is member of TEDAE (Spanish Association of Defence, Aeronautics and Space Technologies) and member of the Comunidad de Madrid Aerospace Cluster.