Russian satellite operator RSCC has secured loan guarantees from the French export credit agency Coface as part of plans to build two more Astrium telecoms satellites, one of which will replace the Express-AM4 spacecraft that failed after…
Russian satellite operator RSCC has secured loan guarantees from the French export credit agency Coface as part of plans to build two more Astrium telecoms satellites, one of which will replace the Express-AM4 spacecraft that failed after launching last year.
The satellites, called Express-AM4R and Express-AM7, are scheduled for launch in 2014 to 80E and 40E, respectively. They will both be based on the Eurostar 3000 platform. Astrium said AM4R will be the most powerful Russian telecoms satellite, with 63 transponders (30 in C-band, 28 in Ku-band, two in Ka-band and three in L-band), while AM7 will boast 62 transponders (24 in C-band, 36 in Ku-band, and two in L-band).
To finance the new AM7 satellite, RSCC is in the process of issuing a tender to arrange a loan facility, which a spokeswoman for the operator said will be backed by Coface, because of Astrium’s operations in France.
In a statement emailed on 28 March, the RSCC spokeswoman said: “On March 19 the advance payment in the framework of the AM7 contract has been made. In the coming weeks we are planning to call for the tender to select the loan facility provider.”
AM4R is being built to replace the Express-AM4 satellite which, after failing to reach geostationary orbit in mid-2011 because of a Proton M rocket failure, was finally brought down into the Pacific Ocean on 25 March 2012. RSCC recouped the entire sum of the insurance indemnity of around Rb7.52bn (US$248m) from Russian insurance firm Ingosstrakh for the total loss, which will be used to fund the spacecraft’s replacement.
Because AM4R is essentially a copy of AM4, reports have suggested that Astrium could build the replacement satellite in time for a 2013 launch instead of its scheduled 2014 timeframe. Astrium was unable to comment before the press deadline.
Speaking at the Satellite 2012 conference in Washington on 15 March, RSCC CEO Dennis Pivnyuk said the group was looking to launch a total of nine satellites to cater for a huge growth in expected demand for capacity in Russia by 2020.
Pivnyuk said that only one of these satellites, the Express-AM9 bird, had yet to be financed. For the rest, he said the group is buying hardware from suppliers including Astrium, Canada’s MDA, Russia’s ISS Reshetnev, and Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy.
He added that the company’s nine-satellite expansion strategy was part of plans to grow organically, rather than through M&A, as it migrates from being a wholesale supplier to one providing end-to-end solutions.
