PARIS — Sea Launch AG, in a rare dual-satellite mission, will launch the AngolaSat telecommunications satellite and the Energia 100 broadband satellite aboard a Sea Launch rocket in the first half of 2016, Sea Launch President Kjell Karlsen said Jan. 9.
The contract was signed in 2013 but the mission was listed with an unnamed customer on Sea Launch’s manifest.
Energia is majority owner of Bern, Switzerland-based Sea Launch. The Korolev, Russia-based company is also a major space hardware builder and in recent years has been trying to crack the commercial satellite business. Both satellites are being manufactured by Energia, which is responsible for securing the launch services as well.
AngolaSat is for the government of Angola, the latest emerging-market country to decide to launch its own telecommunications satellite. Karlsen said Energia 100 is the name of a broadband satellite being built for the Russian market.
