Canadian additively manufactured satellite launches with SpaceX
Devin Jones
Additive Manufacturing AerospaceThe Telstar 19 Vantage provides high-speed Internet for Northern Canada, South America, the Caribbean and the North Atlantic.
Telstar 19 Vantage is SSL’s 50th communications satellite to launch in the past decade.
A new 3D printed space satellite was launched late last week aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 with the purpose of providing high-speed Internet for Northern Canada, South America, the Caribbean and the North Atlantic.
Built specifically for Canadian satellite communications company Telstar, this latest satellite marks a milestone for Californian spacecraft systems manufacturer SSL since it’s the 50th communications satellite to launch in the past decade. The Telstar 19 VANTAGE launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and is designed to provide accurate service for bandwidth heavy applications.
“Telstar 19 VANTAGE represents an important milestone for SSL as our 50th communications satellite to launch this decade, and it also underscores our success in providing exceptional high throughput capacity for targeted regions of the world,” said Dario Zamarian, Group President of SSL.
200 additively manufactured Titanium and polymer components were used to help produce the VANTAGE and it shares a similar manufacturing process to another SSL satellite the Hispasat 30W-6. Launched in March of this year, the Hispasat utilized 3D printed nodes that enabled the antenna tower design. Telstar also shares similarities with Hispasat when it comes to multiple payloads in Ka, Ku, and C-bands, bridging the digital in those territories.
Read more: Lockheed Martin creates giant satellite fuel tank, sets record for 3D printed parts
The use of additive manufacturing ultimately allowed both the Hispasat and the Telstar 19 to have less than half of the mass of a traditional composite panel structure and reduced the required assembly time.
According to a press release provided by Maxar—the parent company of SSL—the VANTAGE when it reaches its orbital slot at 63 degrees West longitude, will maximize throughput and spectral efficiency while also optimizing network performance for Telsat’s customers.
SSL is also building Telstar 18 VANTAGE for Telsat, which is scheduled to launch next month to 138 degrees East. The third Telstar VANTAGE satellite in Telsat’s global fleet, it will combine broad regional beams with powerful HTS spot beams to bring a new level of broadband performance for customers across the Asia Pacific region.
