HISPASAT appoints
SSL to build the Amazonas 5
5 December, 2014
Spanish satellite
telecommunications operator, HISPASAT, has appointed Space
Systems Loral (SSL) to build the Amazonas 5, which will provide
a wide range of telecommunications services in Latin America.
This new satellite constitutes an expansion of the Amazonas 4B
project, to which the full capacity of the Amazonas 4A was
added. Indeed, redefining the 4B mission is just one of the
measures HISPASAT has taken in attempt to minimize any impact
the anomaly detected in the Amazonas 4A power subsystem might
have. As a result, not only will HISPASAT Group complete within
a short period of time its capacity offer, which may be reduced
by the incident occurred in the Amazonas 4A, it will also have
additional capacity in Latin America - one of the regions with
the highest growth in demand for satellite services.
Amazonas 5 has a
high throughput Ka-band spot beam payload, which will be used
for broadband service in South America, Central America and
Mexico. It also has a Ku-band beam for fixed satellite services,
which will be used for television, corporate networks and other
telecommunications applications. The multi-mission payload of
the Amazonas 5 will be distributed as follows:
• 24 Ku band
transponders will provide three coverage areas:
- Brazil in transmission, with coverage across its entire
territory,
- Latin America in transmission, with coverage in Central and
South America, excluding Brazil, and
- South America in reception, with coverage over some of the
main cities in Brazil and Latin America.
• Furthermore, 35 Ka band beams will provide coverage in Brazil,
Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica and
Venezuela.
“We are very happy to team with SSL on Amazonas 5,” said Carlos
Espinós, chief executive
officer of HISPASAT. “As the leader in commercial satellite
manufacturing, SSL is wellpositioned
to support our current innovation and expansion initiatives by
providing us with an
outstanding satellite.”
“I would like to
thank HISPASAT for its ongoing confidence in SSL,” said John
Celli, president of
SSL. “Amazonas 5 is the fourth satellite that we will build for
HISPASAT, with two currently on
orbit and another in backlog. We look forward to continued
teamwork on this high performance
satellite that will help HISPASAT broaden the availability of
high quality communications in Latin
America.”
The Amazonas 5 is
based on SSL's 1300 platform, which provides the flexibility
needed to be
able to house a wide range of payloads for commercial
communications satellites. With
approximately 9.8 kW of power, the Amazonas 5 is designed to
deliver service for 15 years
or longer and will be designed, manufactured and tested at the
SSL facilities in Palo Alto,
California. It is due to be launched in 2017.