Three Hungarian companies have announced a joint venture to formed to launch a national GEO communications satellite in 2024. The timing concerns the planned availability of one of the Hungarian, ITU-mandated, national, orbital slots. This slot (which remains undisclosed at the time of writing) was leased to a “foreign private company” in 2004, for 20 years.
The joint venture is to be known as CarpathiaSat Hungarian Space Telecommunications Corporation (CarpathiaSat CPLC). Ownership of this new company has been divided up between leader 4iG PLC (51 per cent) and partners Antenna Hungaria CPLC (44 per cent), and New Space Industries CPLC (5 per cent).
The satellite is planned to have the capabilities for: broadcasting, internet and telephone services and data transmission. It will also reportedly be made available for “research tasks”. It is not known whether this satellite will also be a indigenous build or if construction will be contracted out. If this is so, Hungary has plenty of options available, most immediate are the three European primes: Airbus DS, Thales Alenia Space, and OHB System. Further afield possibilities include Russian, American and Chinese contractors.
