Spacecom lost contact with Amos-5 communications satellite

22 November, 2015

The nature of the failure is yet unclear. Spacecom said that a $221 million insurance policy protects its financial balance from future business damages in case of total loss

The nature of the failure is yet unclear. Spacecom said that a $221 million insurance policy protects its financial balance from future business damages in case of total loss

Amos-5 artist impression
Amos-5 artist impression

A mystery in space: Four years after the launch, Spacecom lost communication with its Amos-5 communications satellite. Yesterday evening the company reported that satellite stopped providing communication services to its clients.

The nature of the failure is yet unclear, although the company take into account the the satellite is lost. During the public announcement to its investors, Spacecom said that a $221 million insurance policy protects its financial balance from future business damages in case of total loss.

Amos-5 satellite was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in December 2011, after several delays related to technical malfunctions.  A major fault was discovered in July 2011, and as a sesult the launching date was postponed by 2 months. The company did not disclose more information about this failure.

Amos-5 launching
Amos-5 launching

After the launch, in May 2012, the satellite’s prime power supply system performance fell gradually until the operators shut it down completely and started up the backup secondary power supply system. Four months later, a fault was detected in the power supply system number two. This power supply operates the satellite’s engines, that keeps it orientation and stable position in orbit.

Unlike the other Amos-series communication satellites, Amos-5 was not built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), but rather by the Russian ISS-Reshetnev company, owned by the Russian government. Techtime has learned that the Russian government helped ISS to win the competition, in order to enter the modern 15 years service communications satellites market.

This help included approximately $50 million subsidies, secured place in a government launcher and even a dedicated orbital point, reserved for Russia by the ITU. Interestingly, following this win, IAI has threatened that in case it fail to win Amos-6 competition, it will close down its production line for geo-synchronous satellites (GEO).

This drove the State of Israel to secure financial help, resulted in IAI win for Amos-6 development and production.

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