Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and seventy-four have been launched since development started in the 1980s. Spacebus was originally produced by Aérospatiale and later passed to Alcatel Alenia Space. In 2006, it was sold to Thales Group as Thales Alenia Space.

The first Spacebus satellite, Arabsat-1A, was launched in 1985. Since then, seventy-four have been launched, with one more completed, and six outstanding orders. The launch of the 50th Spacebus satellite, Star One C1, occurred in November 2007. It was a Spacebus 3000B3, launched by an Ariane 5 rocket flying from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

Several variants have been built: the early Spacebus 100 and Spacebus 300; followed by the Spacebus 2000, optimised for launch on the Ariane 4 carrier rocket; and the subsequent modular Spacebus 3000 and 4000 series, designed for use with the Ariane 5 rocket.

Aérospatiale had produced a number of satellites, including Symphonie, with the German company Messerschmitt. On 9 December 1983, the two companies signed the Franco-German Spacebus Agreement. The Spacebus designation was first applied to satellites which were under construction by Aérospatiale when the programme started. These included three satellites for Arabsat, which became the Spacebus 100 series, and five further satellites: two for Deutsche Bundespost, two for TéléDiffusion de France, and the Swedish Space Corporation's Tele-X, which became the Spacebus 300 series. Later series' names were followed by a number indicating the approximate mass of the bus in kilograms. Spacebus designations were not retroactively applied to previously launched satellites.

Spacebus satellites consist of a satellite bus, which provides power, propulsion, and other subsystems necessary for the satellite's operation, and a payload which is customisable according to the customer's requirements. The bus was designed to be adaptable to perform various missions; however, as of 2009, only communications satellites have been ordered. It was also designed to be adaptable when the capacity of launch systems increased.

The bus is made of carbon fibre with a composite honeycomb structure.^[when?] It contains fuel tanks, equipment to interface with a carrier rocket, and other critical systems. External panels contain equipment such as solar panels, payload, and engine. The payload, developed separately from the bus, takes up three panels. Once it has been outfitted with transponders or other equipment, it is transported to Cannes-Mandelieu, where it is integrated onto the bus.

The satellites are powered by rigid solar panels. Several configurations are used depending on the amount of power the satellite requires. Batteries to store this power are produced by the Belgian company ETCA.^[which?] Early satellites used nickel-hydrogen batteries, while later spacecraft use lithium-ion batteries.^{[citation needed]}

Spacebus satellites use bipropellant, liquid-fuelled chemical engines to achieve orbit and subsequently perform station-keeping. Electric propulsion was used on the Stentor and Astra 1K satellites, both of which were subsequently involved in launch failures. Spacebus Neo will be an electric propulsion satellite. A three-axis stabilisation system is used for attitude control.^{[citation needed]}