Asia Broadcast Satellite has announced that it has selected Space Systems/Loral to manufacture the ABS-2 spacecraft which is scheduled for launch in 2012 with Arianespace. It will be launched by an Ariane 5 ECA from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
ABS-2 will be the most powerful commercial satellite ever launched in the Asia Pacific region with nearly 14 KW of payload power and up to a total of 78 active C-band, Ku-band and Kaband transponders across 8 different beams. The ABS-2 spacecraft separated mass will be in excess of 6,000 Kg at launch and is designed for 15 years of operational life.
ABS-2 will be co-located with ABS-1 at 75 degrees East Longitude. The ABS-1 satellite is one of the most successful satellites in Asia Pacific in terms of fill rate with more than 14 years of fuel life remaining. ABS-2 will expand the success of ABS-1 by adding up to 78 transponders to the already existing 44 transponders for a total of 122 active transponders at the 75°E orbital location.
ABS-2 was specifically designed for a wide range of services including DTH, Cable TV distribution, VSAT services, Data networks and Telecommunications services. ABS-2 will provide expansion capacity to existing ABS-1 customers, and will also act as in-orbit spare and provide backup for the ABS-1 transponders.
Tom Choi, CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite said: “We are very excited to partner with Space Systems/Loral and Arianespace to build and launch our ABS-2 spacecraft. We chose both of these companies for this important project because of their industry leadership, quality and reliability of their products and services.”
