Astrium has been awarded a contract by Hispasat to design and build Amazonas-2, a powerful satellite which will increase the capacity offered by Hispasat on their American position to meet growing market demand. Equipped with a payload of 64 transponders (54 active transponders in Ku-band and 10 in C-band), Amazonas-2 will provide a full range of telecommunications services to Brazil, and North and South America from the 61W orbital position in geostationary orbit.
Amazonas-2 will be built on a Eurostar E3000 platform, the latest version of the highly successful Eurostar series. Amazonas-2 is the 46th Eurostar satellite ordered and the 18th in the Eurostar E3000 series.
Amazonas-2 will be delivered in orbit in 2009. The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 5,400kg, a payload power of 12kW and a design lifetime of 15 years.
Antoine Bouvier, CEO of Astrium Satellites, said: "We are extremely pleased that Hispasat, a long standing customer of Astrium, has reaffirmed its confidence in the Eurostar E3000 series to support their strategic expansion in the American markets."
