Feltes worked for the company for 25 years, from 1990 until 2015, before founding his own boutique public relations company, Ycomm, aimed at businesses in the space industry. The firm helped the ministry of the economy manage communications around the launch of the spaceresources.com initiative.

Feltes began his career in journalism at the Lëtzebuerger Land newspaper in 1985 with a degree in political science and mass media. He joined SES just two years after the company launched its first satellite in 1988 and witnessed its global expansion.

Feltes in 2019 began working as a media and communications consultant.

“It wasn’t just that Feltes did his job well, but he did it with a flair. He made any event double-exciting, and ensured that everything worked as planned,” specialised publication Advanced Television wrote on Monday.

“Feltes was a solid PR professional, confident, but with a twinkle in the eye. At a satellite launch in Kourou I asked him whether he wrote two press releases should events not go as planned. He smiled as if to query why he might consider such a thing. Failure was never an option,” said UK technology journalist Julian Clover in a tribute posted online.

Jacques Denavaut, his Ycomm business partner, posted his condolences on Twitter.