The planned 6 December dual launch of SES’ Astra-5B and Hispasat’s Amazonas-4A on an Ariane-5 rocket has been delayed until next year after an anomaly was detected on the Spanish operator’s satellite.
Hispasat announced that a number of…
The planned 6 December dual launch of SES’ Astra-5B and Hispasat’s Amazonas-4A on an Ariane-5 rocket has been delayed until next year after an anomaly was detected on the Spanish operator’s satellite.
Hispasat announced that a number of adjustments needed to be made on Amazonas-4A to boost its reliability ‘in order to ensure it performs correctly in space.’
The anomaly was detected during one of the last tests of the Amazonas 4A before being transported to the launch pad.
Hispasat stated: “Although tests show that any risk is remote, Hispasat prefers to resolve any problems affecting a satellite’s performance, however small, before launch given that it considers the robustness and reliability of its satellites to be of paramount importance. Amazonas-4A will be launched once this fine tuning has been completed.”
While the launch is likely to take place in January 2014, it will now be preceded by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission. The space observatory satellite was initially due to be launched in October but has been twice delayed, first to late November and then late December, in order to replace two of the spacecraft’s transponders.
Though Gaia is being launched on a Soyuz rocket, the Kourou spaceport requires two weeks between launches so even if the Amazonas-4A problem is promptly resolved, the launch will have to wait until after that period.
Ordered in June 2012, Amazonas-4A has been constructed by Orbital Sciences and is based on its GEOStar 2.4 platform. The satellite has 24 Ku-band that will cover South America at 61W. As part of the contract, Hispasat has an option for a second spacecraft to be based on a higher power Orbital spacecraft bus.
The postponement is unfortunate for SES as another one of its satellites, SES-8, has suffered from a series of launch delays this year. The spacecraft was originally due to be launched by SpaceX in the first quarter of 2013 but has since been put back to November. It is now due to be launched on 25 November, a slight delay on the previously announced 22 November launch date.
Despite these launch set backs, an SES spokesperson said that the delays will not impact the company’s 2013 earnings guidance as well as DTH contracts signed for Astra-5B.
In addition, they said that the delay to Astra-5B will not cause any issues with the European Commission over its hosted L-band payload on the satellite, European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS).
SES is looking for another potential co-passenger but do not expect it to happen.
Abertis closes deal for Hispasat control
Spanish infrastructure group Abertis has taken control of Hispasat after closing its €172.5m deal for a 16.42% stake from Spain’s government.
Abertis now has 57.05% of the company, ahead of French satellite operator Eutelsat’s 33.69% stake. The remainder is held through Spanish state-owned groups SEPI and CDTI, which have 7.41% and 1.85%, respectively.
In a statement announcing the deal’s completion to the Spanish market yesterday, Abertis reaffirmed that Hispasat is on track to post €200m in revenues and €160m in EBITDA for 2013.
It said it had invested €475m to achieve its current holding to date, after initially buying a 28.4% chunk back in 2007.
