[SatNews] This new Service and Solutions contract has just been signed...

Spanish operator Hispasat has selected Arianespace to launch its new Amazonas-3 telecommunications satellite. Petra Mateos-Aparicio, Chairwoman of Hispasat, Carlos Espinos, CEO of Hispasat, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, signed the Service & Solutions contract for the Amazonas-3 satellite in Santander, Spain. Amazonas-3 will be launched by an Ariane 5 rocket at the end of 2012 or in early 2013 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It will replace the Amazonas-1 satellite at the same orbital position of 61 degrees West.

Amazonas-3 will be built by Space Systems/Loral using an SS/L 1300 platform. It will weigh about 6,000 kg at launch and will be equipped with 33 Ku-, 19 C-, and 9 Ka-band broadband spotbeams. This powerful satellite will provide a wide range of telecommunications services and broadband connectivity in the Americas and Europe. Amazonas-3 will have a design life of 15 years. Amazonas-3 will be the seventh Spanish satellite launched by Arianespace. The European launcher first orbited the Hispasat 1A and 1B satellites in 1992 and 1993. Hispasat and its subsidiary Hisdesat called on Arianespace in 2005 and 2006 to launch the XTAR-Eur and Spainsat satellites. Most recently, Arianespace launched the Amazonas-2 and Hispasat 1E satellites in 2009 and 2010.