TAMPA, Fla. — Saudi Arabian fleet operator Arabsat has ordered its 1st absolutely software-outlined geostationary satellite to give flexible protection across the Center East, Africa and components of Europe.
The firm claimed April 29 it signed a agreement for Arabsat 7A with Europe’s Thales Alenia Place, which will build the satellite centered on its House Inspire system.
Although start designs were being not disclosed, the corporations claimed Arabsat-7A will substitute the bulk of the current C and Ku-band capacity at 30.5 East on Arabsat 5A, which was introduced in 2010 with 15-years of expected operational life.
Arabsat 7A will also have further significant-throughput Ku-band ability to support the enterprise broaden its services in the region.
Arabsat at present owns and operates 7 satellites across three orbital positions. Its Arabsat 6A satellite is co-found with Arabsat 5A at 30.5 East, which Arabsat describes as its “data hotspot.”
Compared with common “bent pipe” GEO satellites, computer software-defined conversation payloads can be reprogrammed in orbit to adapt to distinct places and marketplaces as desire improvements.
They are ever more staying ordered by GEO operators in reaction to field uncertainty as current and prepared megaconstellations in reduced Earth orbit (LEO) disrupt the market place.
Hadi Alhassani, Arabsat’s vice president and main system officer, mentioned March 21 in the course of a Satellite 2022 panel that flexible GEO satellites are the answer to “the LEO constellation opposition.”
“You’re likely to see additional and additional ‘flex sat’ orders this year and the following years,” he stated.
According to study from Euroconsult, software package-outlined satellites manufactured up more than 80% of GEO significant-throughput satellite orders in 2021.
Only 1 of the 5 GEO orders Thales Alenia Area declared in 2021 was for a completely software program-defined satellite.
However, all 4 GEO orders the company has declared so considerably this 12 months have been for software-outlined satellites.
The hottest was announced March 28 when SES ordered SES-26, which the operator expects will start in 2024 or 2025 to lengthen information and connectivity companies across Europe, Africa and Asia.