Telstar 19 VANTAGE shown in antenna testing at SSL in Palo Alto, California, US before it was shipped to launch base. Credit: Space Systems/Loral, LLC.

Space Systems/Loral (SSL) has shipped the first of three communications satellites to be delivered to the SpaceX launch base at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida next month.

The Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite is designed for Telstar to support various services, such as advanced broadband connectivity for consumers, enterprise and mobility users across the Americas and the Atlantic.

It will be placed at an orbital location of 63° West, the location currently used by Telesat’s Telstar 14R.

Telstar 19 VANTAGE combines broad regional beams and high throughput satellite (HTS) spot beams to allow customers to maximise throughput and spectral efficiency as well as network performance.

The satellite’s Ka-band HTS capacity will cater to Telesat customers in Northern Canada, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic Ocean, and South America, while the additional Ku-band HTS spot beams will serve the South American markets in Brazil and the Andean region.

“The cadence this month of shipping out three satellites for launch demonstrates our ongoing market leadership and commitment to quality, reliability, and performance.”

Scheduled to be launched next month, Telstar 19 VANTAGE will also deliver new Ku-band broad beam capacity over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Space Systems/Loral group president Dario Zamarian said: “SSL has a long legacy of leveraging its commercial mindset to provide satellite operators with spacecraft systems that address their requirements and enable global transformation.

“The cadence this month of shipping out three satellites for launch demonstrates our ongoing market leadership and commitment to quality, reliability, and performance.”

Two other satellites, Telstar 18 VANTAGE and Merah Putih, will also be delivered to the SpaceX launch base.

Telstar 18 VANTAGE is the third HTS satellite in Telesat’s global fleet and will be placed at 138° East, to connect Asia with the Americas.

Merah Putih will be operated by Telkom Indonesia (Persero) to provide various services across the 17,000 islands of the Indonesian archipelago, as well as India and parts of South and Southeast Asia.