Page 85 - SAMENA Trends - January-February 2023

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Kacific and ST Engineering iDirect Partner to Extend Reach in Asia

Satellite operator Kacific and satcom technology and solutions deep cooperation on the ground systems infrastructure for
provider ST Engineering iDirect say they have extended their Kacific’s fleet of satellites. ST Engineering iDirect will provide a
technology partnership to expand satellite connectivity in comprehensive next-generation ground infrastructure, including
Southeast Asia and other regions. The companies say they systems integration, as part of this strategic partnership. Riding
have reaffirmed their long-term technology partnership through on the success of its Kacific1 satellite, Kacific is now working
to expand its capabilities and coverage, adding capacity with
services throughout the region. As a first step, the company’s
next-generation satellite aims to address the soaring demand for
satellite connectivity in its existing Southeast Asian markets, and
to extend its reach further into Southeast Asia, Central and Western
Asia, and Eastern Africa. The upcoming Kacific next-generation
satellites are planned to be reconfigurable, with flexible bandwidth
allocation and high spectral efficiency. ST Engineering iDirect will
match the space segment with a new generation of fully scalable,
distributed ground systems that leverage standards-based,
automated resource and service orchestration to enable dynamic
allocation of satellite resources. It says its next-generation ground
systems will enable extremely flexible services that align with
new applications and changing customer demands, and facilitate
the delivery of ultra-high-throughput services. New innovations
such as virtualization, cloudification and a fully digitalized ground
network, combined with ST Engineering iDirect’s next-generation
network management system, will allow Kacific to streamline the
management and operations of a complex large-scale network,
optimizing costs, performance and quality of service delivery.

Argentina’s ARSAT Orders Ka-Band Antennas from MDA

ARSAT, Argentina’s national telecommunications company, has
awarded MDA, a provider of technology and services to the global
space industry, a contract to design, build and supply all of the
Ka-band multibeam antennas for Argentina’s ARSAT-SG1 satellite.
ARSAT-SG1 will provide high-speed internet as well as digital video
and voice services across the country and to Bolivia, Paraguay and
Chile. This is the first contract signed between MDA and ARSAT.
MDA provides antennas to the geosynchronous equatorial orbit
(GEO), medium earth orbit (MEO), and low earth orbit (LEO) satellite
markets. ARSAT-SG1 is a high throughput full electric geostationary
communications satellite. The ARSAT antennas will be built in
MDA’s state-of-the-art high volume production facility in Montreal
in Canada. MDA says its technology has been integrated into more
than 350 satellite missions to date, with more than 2,000 antenna
subsystems and 3,000 electronic subsystems on approximately
850 satellites currently in orbit. ARSAT selected INVAP, a leading
company in technological projects actively supporting Argentine
development, as satellite prime contractor using engineering and
technology developed by GSATCOM, a joint venture company
formed by INVAP and Turkish Aerospace. The ARSAT contract
was added to MDA’s backlog in Q4 2022. The Ka-band multibeam
antennas will be delivered mid-2024.

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