Spacecom, which operates the AMOS fleet of satellites from Israel, has today (April 30^th) notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that the Israeli state is to buy a new communications satellite from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The worrying news is that the notification says the new satellite will be positioned at 4 degrees West, which is an ‘Amos’ position, and where Spacecom has a planned satellite – Amos 8 – on order from Space Systems/Loral.

IAI was previously a regular supplier of satellites to Spacecom, but there has been concern in government circles that the procurement of a ‘foreign’ satellite could pose a problem. This has provoked strong debate in the Israel parliament.

Spacecom lost its Amos 6 satellite in a launch-pad explosion some 18 months ago.

Spacecom is also itself up for sale, and is a subsidiary of the financially troubled Eurocom group of companies. An Israeli Court has ordered that liquidation be commenced on May 3^rd.

Other posts by :

1. Zombies; channels, ads, viewers
2. Analyst: How disruptive could Starlink be?
3. Bank: AST SpaceMobile has 2 year head start on Starlink
4. SpaceX wraps IPO; 8,000 launches by 2030
5. Markets braced for SpaceX IPO
6. Former SpaceX exec to build ‘space taxis’
7. Eutelsat shares crash despite good news
8. Analyst: Years of subs growth ahead for Starlink
9. SES CEO: “Multi-orbit is now key”

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Broadcast, Business, DTH/Satellite, Policy, Regulation, Satellite