Article Posted on : - May 12, 2010

An artistic impresion of VINASAT 2. A file photo.

NEWTOWN (BNS): Lockheed Martin has received a contract to build the VINASAT-2 satellite for Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), after the successful delivery of VINASAT-1 to Vietnam, in 2008.

The in-orbit delivery of the satellite is slated for the second quarter of 2012. Financial terms were not disclosed by the company.

“Lockheed Martin is extremely proud that VNPT has again placed its faith in us to provide a low-risk technical solution that will fully satisfy mission needs,” LMCSS Vice-President Joe Rickers, said in a company press release.

Based on the highly reliable A2100 spacecraft platform, VINASAT-2 will be located at 131.8 degrees east longitude and provide a minimum service life of 15 years.

VINASAT-2 will feature 24 Ku-band fixed high power communication channels thus providing uplink and downlink coverage over Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

“From the shared success of the VINASAT-1 project, I do believe that Lockheed Martin will be able to again meet the schedule requirement and jointly cooperate with VNPT for the successful implementation of the VINASAT-2 Project,” VNPT Chairman of the Board Pham Long Tran added.

The Lockheed Martin A2100 geosynchronous spacecraft series is designed to meet a wide variety of telecommunications needs including Ka-band broadband and broadcast services, fixed satellite services in C-band and Ku-band, high-power direct broadcast services using the Ku-band frequency spectrum and mobile satellite services using UHF, L-band, and S-band payloads.

The A2100 design has been adapted for geostationary Earth orbit (GEO)-based earth observing missions and is the baseline platform for Lockheed Martin’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Series-R programme.

In addition, the A2100 serves as the platform for critical government communications programme, including the Advanced Extremely High Frequency and Mobile User Objective System satellites.