The award of a dual satellite contract from the Spanish government satellite operator, Hisdesat, was announced at the SATELLITE 2019 show in Washington D.C. on 6 May. The contract is for follow-on units to the Spainsat and Xtar-Eur satellites called Spainsat NG 1/2, these satellites will be based on the next-generation Airbus Eurostar Neo platform. They will carry X- and Ka-band payloads in addition to a uhf payload not seen on their predecessors. Work on these units will be split between lead partner Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, with their respective Spanish subsidiaries taking prominent positions in the project.
The first of these new satellites is planned for launch in 2023.
Another contract announced by Airbus, this time without industry competitor/partner Thales Alenia Space, is for a multi-mission unit, Measat-3D. This contract is from Malaysian company, Measat Global Berhad, a large regional Asia-Pacific FSS operator. The satellite will be based on the core Eurostar 3000 platform and will carry C- and Ku-band payloads alongside an HTS Ka-band payload. Also on-board this satellite will be an L-band payload for KTsat, which will be part of the Korean Augmentation Satellite System. This satellite is planned to replace the ageing Measat-3 and -3A units currently in orbit in their 91.5 degrees East slot.
Measat-3D’s launch is planned for 2021.
