The US-based spacecraft manufacturer, Space Systems/Loral, has been awarded a contract by Hispasat to produce the Amazonas 5 commercial communications spacecraft to provide broadband and communications services to South America. The spacecraft will have a communications payload operating in Ku-band and Ka-band (24 Ku-band transponders and 35 Ka-band spot beams) and will use a version of the LS-1300 bus design. The Amazonas 5 spacecraft is expected to be launched in 2017 and will have a design life of 15 years.
Comment by David Todd: The order represents business gained from Orbital Sciences Corp as this satellite is, in effect, a replacement for the cancelled Amazonas 4B. That satellite’s manufacture by Orbital Sciences Corp was cancelled after power systems performance issues with Amazonas 4A.
