The satellite has been shipped to the launch site of Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch is planned in the last week of July on a Proton M Breeze M launch vehicle. With 51 transponders, Amazonas satellite will provide a full range of telecommunications services to Brazil, North and South America, and a transatlantic link for Europe.
The Amazonas Latin American satellite will operate in geostationary orbit, at the 61°W orbital position over the Amazon basin, and will provide both fixed and broadcast communications services through 32 simultaneous operational transponders in Ku-band and 19 simultaneous operational transponders in C-band, over a 15-year mission lifetime. The services offered will include TV broadcasting, business services including VSAT and data broadcasting.
Amazonas is the third Eurostar E3000 to be shipped to the launch pad in only four months. It fulfills Hispasat and Hispamar time to market expectations for Latin America.
Antoine Bouvier, CEO of EADS Astrium said: “Hispasat is a long standing and important customer to EADS Astrium. We have built their first-generation satellites, an important milestone in the development of our Eurostar product line on the world market. Now we deliver their most powerful satellite on schedule to meet their needs and support their expansion in Brazil and Latin American market. The co-operation between Hispasat, Hispamar and EADS Astrium has been excellent on the Amazonas program.”
The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 4.5 tons, a solar array span of 35 meters once deployed in orbit, and a spacecraft power of more than 9.5 kW at end of life.
EADS Astrium, as prime contractor, has designed and built the spacecraft and supplied both the payload and the platform. EADS CASA has been a major partner of EADS Astrium in this program, and other Spanish companies have supplied a significant part of the spacecraft equipment and technology.
Amazonas is based on the E3000 version of the highly successful Eurostar communications satellite family that has been ordered by most of the world’s major satellite operators. It is a full chemical propulsion spacecraft equipped with Lithium-ion batteries. Thirty-eight Eurostar spacecraft have been ordered to date, of which twenty-four have already been launched and have proven highly reliable in operational service.
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Amazonas Satellite Shipped to Baikonur: 3rd Eurostar E3000 Delivered by EADS Astrium in 4 Months
