SpaceQ Space news and analysis.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) announced late yesterday that it signed a deal with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) to supply the AMOS-6 satellite with its communications payload. The contract which is yet to be finalized, but for which MDA has been authorized to start work on, is valued in excess of $90 million.
AMOS-6 will be the 6th satellite in the constellation of satellites operated by Spacecom of Israel and is scheduled for launch in 2014.
Amos-6 will provide steerable Ku-band with Pan-European and Middle East coverage, and a Ka-band beam for broadband services with coverage in Africa and Europe. It will co-located at the 4W orbital position with AMOS-2 and AMOS-3.
According to MDA “the demand for satellite systems to meet the growing needs of information provision has opened a new market in Israel for MDA’s communications products and services.”
While MDA has had difficulty in the domestic market this year, its foreign markets contract bookings has have been good. Year to date, MDA’s share price though has fallen 6.75% but rebounded from a post-budget downturn. After the budget was released MDA raised concerns about the RADARSAT Constellation Mission as there was no mention of it in the budget. MDA had been expecting the next phase of the project to go ahead which would have seen it begin building the satellites starting this fall. However the government has yet to announce the go ahead and funding for the build stage, prompting MDA to begin laying off people.
