Israeli satellite operator Spacecom is finalising export credit agency support for the launch of its Amos-6 bird by nascent US commercial launcher SpaceX.
Omri Arnon, Spacecom’s VP for business development, said the satellite will also benefit from…
Israeli satellite operator Spacecom is finalising export credit agency support for the launch of its Amos-6 bird by nascent US commercial launcher SpaceX.
Omri Arnon, Spacecom’s VP for business development, said the satellite will also benefit from the backing of Export Development Canada, because Canadian manufacturer MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) is developing the payload solution.
Arnon declined to discuss further details about the financing for Amos-6, which is primarily being constructed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) under a US$200m contract. However, he said these details should be finalised “in a few months”.
Spacecom has previously outlined plans to tap debt markets to finance Amos-6. In June the company said in a stock exchange filing that, while it had yet to secure a launch provider, it anticipated this costing US$85m.
The Amos-6 launch agreement builds on a non-specific contract that Spacecom and SpaceX secured back in 2010. It sees Spacecom join an increasing number of operators booking flights with the company that has yet to launch a commercial satellite into orbit.
SES last week unveiled plans for three more launches with SpaceX from 2015. Announcing the deal, SES CEO Romain Bausch highlighted the importance of diversifying the company’s resources, in the wake of another Proton rocket launch failure in Russia.
It is estimated that within three years SpaceX has managed to rack up around a US$1bn in backlog orders for the commercial satellite industry alone.
On average, prices for these launch contracts are around 50% less than those being charged by its competitors, the CEO of Russian launcher ILS told journalists last week.
Helping SpaceX to compete on an international scale, industry spectators predict further ECA support for the nascent launcher, as the US searches for a viable domestic alternative to its retired NASA Space Shuttle.
