Last week, Space Systems Loral (SSL) has announced a contract award to manufacture a small geostationary satellite.
SSL is a leading provider of spacecraft systems and innovative satellites and a contract, for the development of its first geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite named Ovzon-3, has been awarded by Ovzon which is a Sweden based company also present in the United States with its offices in Tampa, FL and Bethesda, MD.
Ovzon, acknowledging SSL’s proven technology and performance for its first satellite to meet the growing demands of mobile broadband connectivity in underserved regions, has selected SSL for its mid-size SSL-500 platform which will also be a low-cost form factor for Ovzon.
To support the financing, insurance, development and launching of the satellite, the Swedish telecom, Ovzon will invest 1.5 billion Swedish Crown ($165.6 million).
The contract is conditional on Ovzon to raise funds for the satellite financing for which it has been intending to raise half of the financing through rights offerings and the other half of the financing would be managed through external loans as well as existing funds.
In the markets of Earth observation and communications, SSL, for its high-capacity and cost-effective solutions, is holding a strong position and Ovzon will be getting advanced communications in remote areas for extremely diversified mobile broadband potentials. Through Ovzon-3, the customers will be experiencing comparatively expanded coverage, better performance and faster network speeds whereas Ovzon, besides meeting typical communications requirements, will be getting enhanced performance and coverage area expansions. Ovzon, with this satellite, will also become able to commence single-hop communication between very small terminals.
A processor, provided by the customer, has been integrated into the architecture of SSL to utilize maximum capacity of the satellite.
In October, Falcon Heavy launch was bought by the Ovzon from SpaceX.
Satellite has been previously planned to launch, through SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, in late-2020 but will now be adjusted according to completion of satellite’s construction which is expected to be done by 2021.
