Spacecom
Spacecom, or Space Communication, is an Israeli communications satellite operator in the Middle East, European Union and North America headquartered in the city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Spacecom operates two satellites at orbital position 4° West – Amos-3 and Amos-7, one satellite at orbital position 65° East – Amos-4, and one satellite at orbital position 17° East – Amos-3.
History
Spacecom was established in 1993 with a defined goal of marketing Amos-1, a newly built communication satellite manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. In 2003 Spacecom launched its second satellite, Amos-2, owned entirely by the company. In 2008, the Amos-3 satellite was launched to replace Amos-1 and to increase coverage and traffic abilities.Until 2005, Spacecom was a private company controlled by four companies, including IAI and Eurocom Group. It went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2005.
In August 2016, Spacecom shareholders agreed to sell the company for $500 million to Beijing Xinwei Technology Group via a Luxembourg business entity. The deal, announced August 24, was pending the successful entry into service of Amos-6 after the launch. On September 1, 2016, two days before the scheduled launch date, the satellite was destroyed during the run-up to a static fire test of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Later statements from both companies stated that negotiations were ongoing, but that the purchase price was likely to be reduced. However, by April 2017 talks between Spacecom and Xinwei had failed, and Spacecom began a new search for buyers.
Coverage
Spacecom satellites provide coverage to most of the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Sub Saharan Africa.Services
- Direct-to-Home broadcasting
- Broadband telephony
- Satellite Internet
- VSAT
- Radio
Fleet
- AMOS 1
- AMOS 2
- AMOS 5 – Israeli satellite launched from Kazakhstan in 2011 by Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket to provide services to customers in Africa. AMOS 5 initiated commercial operations in early 2012 with C- and Ku-band beams. On 21 November 2015 all communications with the Amos-5 satellite were lost.
- AMOS 3
- AMOS 4 – was successfully launched on August 31, 2013 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It will offer coverage across Southeast Asia along with high power coverage beams offering communication links from East Asia to the Middle East.
- AMOS 7 – Lease of AsiaSat 8
| Name | Bus | Payload | Order | Launch | Launch Vehicle | Launch Result | Launch Weight | Status | Remarks |
| Amos-1 | AMOS | 7 Ku band | 1996-05-16 | Ariane 44L | Launched along Palapa C2. Sold in 2009 to Intelsat as Intelsat 24. | ||||
| Amos-2 | AMOS | 22 Ku band | 2003-12-27 | Soyuz-FG/Fregat | Reached end of life on 2017-03-31 | ||||
| Amos-3 | AMOS | 15 Ku band and Ka band | 2008-04-28 | Zenit-3SLB | Straight GEO launch. | ||||
| Amos-5 | Ekspress-1000H | 18 C band and 16 Ku band | 2011-12-11 | Proton-M/Briz-M | Launched along Luch 5A. Failed on November 21, 2015. | ||||
| Amos-4 | AMOS 4000 | 8 Ku band and 4 Ka band | 2013-08-31 | Zenit-3SLB | |||||
| Amos-6 | AMOS 4000 | 2 S band, 43 Ku band and Ka band | 2012 | 2016-09-03 | Falcon 9 Full Thrust | Electric propulsion for station keeping. | |||
| Amos-7 | SSL-1300 | 24 Ku band, 1 Ka band | 2014-08-05 | Falcon 9 | 4,535 kg | 4-year lease of AsiaSat 8 | |||
| Amos-17 | BSS-702MP | ka band, ku band, c band | 2016 | 2019-08-06 | Falcon 9 | 6,500 kg | Deployed with a free launch due to the loss of AMOS-6 | ||
| Amos-8 | AMOS 4000 | 39 Ku band, 24 Ka band, 2 S band | 2018 | Falcon 9 | planned | 5,250 kg | Spacecom selected SSL to build satellite, based on SSL-1300 bus. AMOS-6 replacement. This order was eventually cancelled. |