• Forum
• SITREP
• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security

• Space

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Public Eye

Amazonas, Hispasat most powerful satellite, nearly completed by EADS Astrium

Astrium has completed the Amazonas satellite manufacturing and assembly and has also successfully completed the Environmental Testing. Final end to end RF testing is on going and will be completed before end May. The satellite will be then shipped around mid June to Baikonour, Kazakhstan, to prepare for the launch which is planned in July on a Proton M Breeze M launch vehicle. With 51 transponders, it will provide a full range of telecommunications services to Brazil, North and South America, and a transatlantic link for Europe.

Madrid/ Friedrichshafen/ Stevenage/ Toulouse, 22 April 2004

The Amazonas Latin American satellite will be the fifth satellite launched by Hispasat. It 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.

The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 4.5 tons, a solar array span of 35 metres once deployed in orbit, and a spacecraft power of more than 9.5 kW at end of life.

EADS Astrium, as prime contractor, design and build the spacecraft and supply both the payload and the platform. EADS CASA will be a major partner of EADS Astrium in this programme, and other Spanish companies will supply 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.

EADS Astrium is Europe’s leading satellite system specialist. Its activities cover complete civil and military telecommunications and Earth observation systems, science and navigation programmes, and all spacecraft avionics and equipment.

EADS Astrium is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS SPACE, which is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems. In 2003 EADS SPACE had a turnover of €2.4 billion and 12,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2003, EADS generated revenues of € 30.1 billion and employed a workforce of more than 100,000.

AMAZONAS technical characteristics

Spacecraft:		E3000
Main body dimensions:
	Height:	5.8 m
	Length:	2.4 m
	Width:	2.9 m
	Solar Array Span deployed:	35 m
	Launch mass:	4500 kg
	DC Power / End of life:	9500W
	Design lifetime:	15 years
	Orbital position:	61° West
Payload
	Frequency bands:	C and Ku bands
	Number of transponders:	19 transponders in C- band 32 transponders in Ku- band
	Coverage:	Brazil North America, from North of USA to Panama, including Mexico and the Caribbean Islands Central and South America, from Venezuela and Colombia to the South of Argentina and Chile South West Europe (Ku-band only)
	Channel switchability	High level of flexibility for channel allocation between North and South America, Brazil and Europe.

 

Press contact:
Rémi ROLAND
EADS SPACE (FR)
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 34 88 35 78

Alistair SCOTT
EADS SPACE (UK)
Tel.: +44 (0) 1438 77 3698

Mathias PIKELJ
EADS SPACE (GER)
Tel.: +49 (0) 7545 8 91 23