Joanna Crews
Lockheed Martin has begun to assemble an eighth communications satellite for Japan-based operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. inside a clean room near Denver, Colorado.
JCSAT-17 is based on Lockheed’s LM2100 bus and the satellite’s payload is designed to incorporate S-band transponders, a processor and an 18-meter mesh reflector, the company said Wednesday.
The satellite will offer high-bandwidth communications during high-volume events, such as disaster relief missions, in Japan and its surrounding region.
Lockheed will work to integrate power, propulsion, mechanisms, radio frequency payload, antennas, thermal and attitude control and telemetry tracking and control systems onto the satellite over the next nine months.
JCSAT-17 will undergo environmental tests after the assemble and test phase.
Sam Basuthakur, Lockheed’s JCSAT-17 program manager, said the mobile satellite service is scheduled to launch on Ariane-5 next year.
