It has been confirmed that Hispasat’s Amazonas-4A is operating with only about 50 per cent of its designed capacity. The satellite was launched almost a year ago on March 22nd by an Ariane rocket, and it was feared suffered a power-subsystem malfunction shortly after launch.

Hispasat president Elena Pisonero has now officially confirmed the loss of capacity at its 61 degrees West orbital slot which is already the subject of a major insurance claim believed to be in the region of $200 million.

A back-up satellite, Amazonas-5, is on order with Space Systems/Loral, and which incorporates the original Amazonas 4A mission, that of its back-up (Amazonas 4B) and other expansion elements. The new satellite ordered in December last year is due for launch in 2017.

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