The ARSAT-1 satellite, which will be launched in July, successfully completed the vibration tests that simulate the environmental conditions to which it will be exposed during the launching stage to guarantee proper functioning and quality.
ARSAT-1 is the first Argentine geostationary telecommunications satellite completely designed, built and tested in Argentina that will be used to provide telephone, Internet and TV services. It is part of the Argentine Geostationary Telecommunications Satellite System (SSGAT, in Spanish) and it will be put into orbits of this kind in the frequency bands allocated to Argentina by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The tests were carried out at the facilities of the Hi-Tech Test Center (CEATSA, in Spanish). This public company was established in 2010 as a result of an agreement between ARSAT S.A. (Argentine Company for Satellite Solutions) and INVAP S.E. (Argentine State-owned Applied Research Company) to attend to the needs of the space and other national industries. The goal of CEATSA is to complement production processes with testing services offered in San Carlos de Bariloche.
ARSAT S.A., dependent on the National Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services (MINPLAN, in Spanish), hired INVAP, a company belonging to the province of Río Negro, as the main contractor responsible for managing these projects and providing the engineering service thoroughly –including the designing, building, testing and launching stages as well as satellites quality assurance and proper functioning.
It is important to highlight that the impetus towards the satellite program takes place under the policy followed by MINPLAN –which includes designing and building telecommunications and Earth observation satellites– in close collaboration with the Argentine Space Activities Commission (CONAE, in Spanish).
With respect to this, it is worth mentioning that the development of ARSAT-1 is of strategic importance to Argentina, not only from the commercial but also from the geopolitical point of view; because by marketing satellite services at international level, it generates a new source of income to the country. Since its foundation in 2006, –in the context of MINPLAN– ARSAT comes to clearly show the significance and high value placed by the national government on the orbit-spectrum resource and the space technological development, which have far-reaching implications for any nation in the world. Nowadays, ARSAT has the exclusive right to exploit both orbital positions allocated to Argentina, 81° and 72° West.
