Arabsat, Taqnia Space to produce new comms satellite
Details
Rebecca Hawkes
| 06 March 2017

Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia Space and Arabsat have sealed an agreement to manufacture a satellite termed ‘6-D’ for Ka and Ku-band communications services, including fixed and mobile TV broadcasts.

The new satellite will be positioned in orbit at 44.5° East and owned by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and the regional satellite operator Arabsat.

“[The] agreement is the culmination of the strategic partnership between Arabsat, King AbdulAziz City for Science and Technology and Taqnia Space, which started with satellite SGS-1 on the orbital position 39° East, scheduled to be launched early 2018, with estimated investments of more than US$650 million for manufacture, launch and orbit tests for both satellites,” said Khalid bin Ahmed Balkheyour, president & CEO, Arabsat .

SGS-1 will be the first Saudi satellite, and is being developed to “meet the increasing demand on satellite services particularly the provision of Internet services, voice calls and TV broadcasts on board aircraft, which will be applied on board Saudi Airlines’ aircrafts in early 2019,” said Abdullah Al-Osaimi, CEO, Taqnia Space.

Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, chairman of King AbdulAziz City for Science and Technology, explained the strategic partnership agreed between Taqnia Space and Arabsat is designed to promote an integrated approach to developing a “highly sophisticated and secured satellite telecommunication system”.

The participation of KACST specialists as a key partner with Taqnia Space in the technology, the research and the development, has contributed effectively in having the most advanced technical specifications for this satellite,” he added.