MADRID, 15 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Hispasat has announced this Saturday the entry into operation of the Amazonas Nexus satellite, which will allow high-speed internet access to the entire American continent, the northern and southern corridors of the Atlantic and points such as Greenland and the Amazon jungle.
The Spanish company, which belongs to the Redeia group, has detailed through a press release that this high-performance geostationary satellite is designed to offer connectivity on planes and ships and will effectively contribute to reducing the digital divide in Latin America.
The satellite, the company recalled, was launched on February 7 from the US space forces station in Cape Canaveral (Florida) using a Falcon 9 rocket from the SpaceX company.
Since then, the satellite has been carrying out all the tests, from the arrival in the geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers, its ignition, deployment of antennas and transmission equipment, to its final location in the orbital station (61 degrees west) where it will reside for its useful life, which is expected to exceed 15 years.
The president of Hispasat, Jordi Hereu, has highlighted that “Amazonas Nexus opens a new stage”. “It will allow us to open new markets and fulfill our commitment to citizens to prevent the digital divide from continuing to grow and they have access to digital rights, education and health in remote places,” he stressed.
The satellite, whose project was carried out with an investment of 300 million euros, begins its operation with contracts and commercial agreements for long-term leasing such as the ‘Pathfinder2’ mission of the United States Space Force or the Greensat load for Tusass, the Greenland National Communications Company, among others.
The Amazonas Nexus, built on Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus NEO platform, has a Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) that allows one-hop communications to be established throughout its coverage area and provides flexibility that will facilitate its adaptation to the changes that occur in the demand for services throughout their useful life.
Given its multipoint architecture, the satellite can reuse the transmission frequency and, therefore, increase its performance in orbit; In addition, it is an electrically powered satellite, which is why it is lighter (4.1 tons of launch mass) and has reduced the costs of putting it into orbit, although due to this its arrival in the indicated orbit has not been produced so far.
The Amazonas Nexus has been manufactured at the Thales Alenia Space facilities in Cannes (France) and has significant participation from the Spanish aerospace industry through companies such as Thales Alenia Space Spain, Sener, GMV and Aicox, among others.
