The Spanish satellite operator Hispasat has once again turned to GMV for deployment of the flight-dynamics and monitoring-and-control systems of the Amazonas 4A satellites. Both systems will be developed from the GMV products already being used by Hispasat; focusGEO for the fleet as a whole and hifly for the satellites Amazonas 1, 2, 3, H1E and AG1.
The project includes installation of the new satellite’s ground stations in the control centers of Arganda del Rey, Maspalomas and Rio de Janeiro. These ground stations will monitor the state of the new satellite and send the necessary instructions and commands. The satellites’ in-orbit tracking systems will also be updated.
GMV will provide the flight dynamics system, built up from focusGEO, the benchmark orbital operations product for the rest of Hispasat’s fleet. The contract is rounded out with the satellite monitoring-and-control system using the hifly product, GMV’s commercial solution for real-time satellite management.
Amazonas 4A will be launched in 2014 and located at 61° west orbital position. This satellite, built by Orbital on a Star 2 platform, is Hispasat’s response to Latin America’s growing demand for satellite capacity, especially satellite-television platforms. This demand will be further boosted by the upcoming sporting events of worldwide importance to be held in Brazil: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
In the words of Jorge Potti, GMV’s General Manager of Aerospace “These new developments will help forge an even closer relationship between GMV and Hispasat, a relationship that now dates right back to 1991. This new contract makes it 6 satellites now being controlled by hifly and 8 by focusGEO”.