The Hellas-Sat-4 communications satellite after spacecraft integration in a Lockheed Martin clean room near Denver. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

A team of engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin has completed the integration of the company’s first modernized A2100 satellite, known as Hellas Sa-4/SaudiGeoSat 1. The satellite now moves into final assembly and testing, on track for launch in the second quarter of 2018.

Built for Arabsat and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, the satellite will provide advanced telecommunications capabilities, including television, internet, telephone and secure mode communications, to customers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

“We’ve modeled this activity in our virtual reality lab hundreds of times, but this is the first time we’ve performed the integration activity of our modernized A2100 satellite in a clean room,” said Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

This milestone on a modernized A2100 satellite sees the hybrid propulsion integrated with the payload module and transponder panels. Using a combination of electrical Hall current thrusters and liquid apogee engine, the propulsion subsystem serves as the structural backbone of the satellite and is essential for maneuvering it into its final orbit as well as keeping it on station throughout its mission.

The modernized A2100 builds on a flight-proven bus that is the foundation for more than 40 satellites in orbit today. Lockheed Martin has another five modernized A2100 satellites currently under contract.