Hispasat’s first international TV satellite enters end-of-service orbit
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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez
| 27 June 2017

Hispasat’s Amazonas 1 satellite has completed the re-orbiting process after almost 13 years of useful life, providing connectivity services, including TV broadcasting, across Europe and the Americas.

Amazonas 1 was Hispasat’s first international satellite and the cornerstone of its expansion into Latin American markets. Based on the Eurostar 3000 platform, its main services included the distribution of television channels both in Europe and America, as well as providing other telecommunications solutions such as corporate networks and broadband applications.

“Amazonas 1 satellite was very special for Hispasat because it was the company’s first step towards internationalisation. The satellite initially experienced a fuel leak that called into question its future operation. In spite of this setback, Amazonas 1 was able to fulfil most of its useful life, which was unimaginable after a failure of this kind,” said Antonio Abad, technical and operations director at Hispasat.

“We are proud to be industrial partners of Hispasat since its inception, and we thank them for their confidence, which has allowed us to contribute to their numerous achievements. Amazonas 1 begins a well-deserved retirement and its replacement is ready, specifically, thanks to Amazonas 2,” added Arnaud de Rosnay, SVP satellite telecommunications at Airbus, which was involved in Amazonas 1’s development.