Spanish satellite operator Hispasat has announced that an anomaly has been detected on the Amazonas 4A satellite following its launch.
The spacecraft was lofted alongside SES’ Astra-5B by Arianespace on 22 March. It was then successfully positioned in…
Spanish satellite operator Hispasat has announced that an anomaly has been detected on the Amazonas 4A satellite following its launch.
The spacecraft was lofted alongside SES’ Astra-5B by Arianespace on 22 March. It was then successfully positioned in geostationary orbit.
However, Hispasat and the satellite’s manufacturer Orbital Sciences subsequently found that Amazonas 4A was suffering an anomaly in early testing.
SatelliteFinance sources have suggested that the satellite has suffered an “irreversible solar array deployment issue”, but Hispasat has said it is connected to the spacecraft’s power subsystem.
The satellite is currently undergoing tests at 51W to looking into a possible cause so that corrective actions can be taken.
Hispasat stated that the satellite is fully insured and that any economic impact would be negligible. It is thought the spacecraft is insured for around US$200m and any claim would likely be for a partial loss.
Willis is understood to have placed the insurance.
Hispasat added that there would also be no disruption to its services because it had a contingency plan in place.
Based on Orbital’s GEOStar-2 bus, Amazonas 4A contains 24 Ku-band transponders covering the whole of South America. It was ordered in June 2012 alongside the more powerful Amazonas 4B, which is due to be launched in 2015.
Orbital have had a couple of problems with the platform historically with Intelsat’s Galaxy-15 and New Dawn satellites suffering anomalies. The former was launched in 2005, but in April 2010 the satellite operator lost control of the spacecraft. It was subsequently successfully rebooted in December of the same year.
New Dawn was launched by Arianespace in April 2011 but, shortly after its launch, the spacecraft suffered a problem with the deployment of its west antenna, which controls communication in the C-band frequency.
While the Ku-band antenna deployed as designed and its 24 Ku transponders continue to operate normally, the C-band anomaly remained and New Dawn filed an insurance claim for a partial loss.
However, Orbital has said its latest issue is specific to Amazonas 4A and does not threaten its other satellites.
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