ArSat 1-2
Argentina has decided to enter the Satellite Communications area with the construction of a series of three geostationary satellites for telephone, data and television transmission with geographic coverage in the Southern Cone. In order to achieve this, the National Government transferred to AR-SAT S.A. (a recently created public company that will provide satellite solutions) the assets of Nahuelsat SA, a private company which operated orbital position 72° W, with the satellite NAHUEL-1. This satellite occupied the 72° W position until 2010, when it ended its life. In the near future, the argentine satellites ARSAT-1, ARSAT-2 y ARSAT-3 will occupy the positions assigned to Argentina, 81° (in Ku band, covering North and South America; and in C band, covering the whole hemisphere) and 72° W.
Arianespace to launch Argentine satellite Arsat-1
Following an international call for tenders, Argentine satellite operator ARSAT has chosen Arianespace to launch its Arsat-1 satellite.
Arianespace announced today that it has signed the launch Service & Solutions contract with Argentine operator ARSAT (Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitales Sociedad Anonima) to orbit the Arsat-1 satellite by October 2014.
Weighing about 2,900 kg. at launch, Arsat-1 will be placed into geostationary transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Arsat-1 will be fitted with twelve 36 MHz, eight 54 MHz and four 72 MHz transponders, all in Ku band. It will offer a wide range of telecommunications, data transmission, telephone and television services mainly across all of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The satellite is being built by the Argentine company INVAP, with Astrium and Thales Alenia Space as leading equipment suppliers. Arsat-1 will be the second Argentine satellite launched by Arianespace, after Nahuel 1A, orbited in 1997.
“We are very pleased with our selection of Arianespace to launch the first geostationary satellite built in Argentina,” said Pablo Tognetti, Chairman and CEO of ARSAT. “Our selection is the result of an international bid, in which price, excellence in space transportation and mission success ratio were critical in our decision."
Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, added, “Arianespace is especially proud to have this opportunity to work with a South American satellite operator, and we would like to thank ARSAT for selecting us. This latest contract, the ninth we have signed in 2010, is clear recognition of the quality and competitiveness of our launch Service & Solutions.”
ARSAT
ARSAT is a company incorporated by the Argentine Government under a law passed in 2006. The company aims to develop the geostationary orbital slots assigned to the Argentine Republic by means of telecommunications satellites developed and built in Argentina, and to operate them and provide all kind of satellite services, voice, data, audio and video, to customers across the Americas. Currently holding Argentine orbital slots 81 degrees West and 72 degrees West, ARSAT is providing service to customers using satellite capacity obtained through strategic and commercial agreements with global operators.
Information and pics by INVAP
ARSAT 2
Sep 30th,2015 - Argentina today launched the ARSAT-2 spacecraft from a site in French Guyana, with the goal of providing telecommunication services across much of the Western hemisphere.
ARSAT (Argentine Satellite Solutions), a state-owned company created through the approval of Federal Law 26,092 during late former president Néstor Kirchner’s administration in 2006, monitored the launch and operation of ARSAT-2 from the Benavídez Ground Station in northern Buenos Aires province.
This satellite is the second in the ARSAT project’s repertoire, following the launch of ARSAT-1 in October last year that saw Argentina join the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Israel, India and the European Union in the list of countries that have built and managed geostationary satellite programmes autonomously.
ARSAT-2 weighs over three tons, and will allow the Argentine space telecommunications programme that began with ARSAT-1 to provide countries in the Western hemisphere with direct-to-home television (DTH), Internet access services and data transmission, among other uses.
