Spacecom's AMOS-4 plan targets Southeast Asia Space News business report, 29 June, 2006 Having signed a contract to launch its Amos-3 communications satellite in late 2007 aboard a Land Launch rocket, Spacecom Ltd. of Ramat Gan, Israel, has begun planning for a fourth satellite that will expand the company's business into Asia.
Spacecom has neither a launch date nor an orbital slot for the planned Amos-4 satellite, but is targeting the Indian Ocean region, said Motty Slomovitz, the company's vice president for sales and marketing in North America. A slot over the Indian Ocean would stretch Spacecom's coverage area from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and Japan, he said.
The company eventually hopes to operate a fleet of five to six satellites, Slomovitz said in a June 13 interview.
Currently Spacecom operates two satellites, Amos-1 and Amos-2, both in the 4 degrees west slot over the Atlantic, which provides coverage of the Middle East, Europe and the East Coast of the United States. Amos-3 will join the other two spacecraft in that slot, eventually replacing Amos-1, which was launched in 1996. Amos-2 became operational in 2004.
Amos-3 will boast more capabilities than its predecessors, including Ka-band capacity and steerable rather than fixed antenna beams, Slomovitz said.
Over the next few years, Spacecom expects to see growth both in its commercial business, primarily in direct-to-home television broadcasting, as well as in its U.S. Department of Defense business, which is arranged through U.S. companies, Slomovitz said.
download Having signed a contract to launch its Amos-3 communications satellite ...
