AMOS-17 is an advanced digital tri-band satellite with a digital payload that offers extensive C-band HTS coverage, regional Ku-band coverage, and steerable Ka-band HTS beams.
Field trials that typically showed speeds of less than 30 Kbps were increased to 125 Kbps when using the AMOS-17 satellite.
hiSky Ltd. partnered with Spacecom (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: SCC) to provide launch services via the AMOS-17 satellite.
AMOS-17’s tri-band digital payload is designed to provide secure and resilient SATCOM solutions over major areas of interest.
AMOS-17’s steerable Ka-band beams can provide services from Asia in the east to Brazil in the west.
SpaceX launched the AMOS-17 telecommunications satellite on a Falcon 9 and 34 hours later United Launch Alliance launched an Air Force communications satellite from a different pad in August.
Amos-17 replaces Amos-5, a Russian- and French-built spacecraft that ceased communicating in November 2015 four years after launch due to a power failure.
Amos-17 is designed to provide broadcast and broadband connectivity services across sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.
Amos-17’s designed operational life is five years longer than the average geostationary communications satellite.
Amos-17 is designed to operate for 20 years.
Spacecom contracted Boeing to build Amos-17 in December 2016 under a $161,000,000 contract.
SpaceX used the same first-stage booster that launched Amos-17 to launch Telstar-19 Vantage for Telesat in July 2018 and Es’hail-2 for Es’hailSat in November 2018.
IDS Africa plans to use capacity on Amos-17 to reach viewers in Nigeria and the Nigerian diaspora in Europe.
Amos-17 is equipped with C-, Ku-, and Ka-band payloads for coverage over Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
Spacecom signed Nigerian broadcaster IDS Africa as a customer for Amos-17 prior to the satellite’s launch.
Spacecom purchased Amos-17 from Boeing in 2016 as a replacement for Amos-5.
An unnamed customer will use high-throughput Ka-band capacity on Amos-17 for four years to provide communications services primarily in Africa.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch Amos-17 in the second quarter of 2019.
Amos-17 is a replacement for Amos-5, a Russian-built satellite that failed in 2015 after four years of operation toward an expected 15-year service life.
Amos-17 carries Ka-band, Ku-band, and C-band payloads.