Telesat, a leading global satellite operator and longstanding partner of ManSat, recently announced its procurement of a powerful new spacecraft called Telstar 18 VANTAGE from Space Systems Loral (SSL).

The new satellite will operate from 138 degrees East and is expected to be in service in the first half of 2018. Telstar 18 VANTAGE will expand Telesat’s coverage of growing satellite service markets in China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Ocean region.

The project draws upon the growing relationship Telesat has with Manx company, ManSat. Telesat IOM Limited and ManSat’s cooperation dates to 2001 when Telesat was ManSat’s first customer. This latest project, the fourth between the companies, enables Telesat to utilise Ka-band spectrum on Telstar 18 VANTAGE, which will bring improved performance and efficiency for broadband satellite networking to customers in the Asia-Pac region.

Telstar 18 VANTAGE will be the third satellite with high throughput capabilities in Telesat’s global fleet and, like the others, will utilise a combination of broad regional beams and high throughput spot beams in Ku-band to maximise throughput and spectral efficiency. It will also provide extensive C-band coverage of Asia that reaches from India and Pakistan in the West all the way to Hawaii in the East, enabling direct connectivity from any point in Asia to the Americas.

‘Telstar 18 VANTAGE is a high throughput, highly flexible, state-of-the-art satellite that will provide a significant competitive advantage to customers serving the demanding requirements of broadcast, enterprise and government users throughout Asia,’ said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. ‘We are pleased to be making this important addition to our global satellite fleet and building on our long and successful relationship with ManSat.’

‘Providing spectrum to satellites such as Telstar 18 VANTAGE is the very essence of why we created ManSat,’ said Chris Stott, CEO and Chairman of ManSat. ‘It is tremendous to see this cutting edge project come to fruition, and we are honoured to once again be supporting our oldest customer, Telesat.’

Telstar 18 VANTAGE is designed for an in-orbit life of more than 15 years, with electrical output of approximately 14 kW.