Between 2006 and 2011 he was the executive president of Deimos Imagin, a satellite operating company.
The astronaut and former Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities Pedro Duque is the candidate chosen by the Government to preside over the satellite company Hispasat and at the shareholders meeting that will take place this Tuesday his name will be put on the table to take over from Jordi Hereu, who left office after being appointed Minister of Industry and Tourism last November.
According to the newspaper ‘El País’ and Europa Press has been able to confirm from government sources, it will be the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) that will propose Pedro Duque to preside over Hispasat.
The decision must be ratified at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders that will also be held tomorrow.
Sources from the sector have also indicated to Europa Press that it is expected that at the shareholders’ meeting this Tuesday the person who will occupy the vacant position of director after the death last August of Constantino Méndez, “a very beloved person in the sector”.
“Since its establishment in 1989, Hispasat has had a high strategic value for the Spanish Government and for the users of the satellite system. Thanks to Hispasat, Spain has a national satellite communications system in special and highly secure frequency bands capable of to satisfy their communication needs in areas of geostrategic interest,” the company points out on its own website.
In this context, 89.68% of Hispasat’s shareholding belongs to Redeia – through Red Eléctrica Sistemas de Telecomunicaciones (Restel) -, while SEPI owns 7.41% and the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) has the remaining 2.91%.
However, it is worth remembering that the SEPI – dependent on the Ministry of Finance – controls 20% of the share capital of Redeia, while the CDTI is attached to the portfolio that Duque directed during his period in the Government (between June 2018 and July 2021 and in two different legislatures).
Duque is an Aeronautical engineer by the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Superior Technical School of Aeronautical Engineers) and Corresponding Academic of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain (RAING) since
An astronaut on leave from the European Space Agency (ESA), Duque is the first and only Spaniard to have traveled to space so far.
In addition, between 2006 and 2011 he served as CEO and CEO of Deimos Imaging, a private company that had a commercial Earth observation system with its own satellites and surface stations.
