The director General and VP of Star One based this change on expectations and upcoming launches for low orbit. In an interview with Convergencialatina during Satellite 2018, Oliveira indicated that the company analyzes the LEO segment for its potential to occupy new market areas, such as IoT, image capture and part of 5G upcoming applications.
"We are assessing the impact of LEO in the sector because these satellites will be in the ecosystem and GEO will have to live together therewith. There are still technological challenges, in particular in terrestrial terminals: flat antennas are not developed and are a fundamental element to achieve a low cost for the final client. There are prototypes but there is no mass production or performance evaluations", he warned.
Star One is currently focused on manufacturing its next satellite, the Star One D2, in the hands of SSL in Palo Alto. Next month they will begin the Preliminary Design Review phase, in line with the schedule to reach the launch in December 2019.
The D2 is the largest satellite of the operator's fleet, with more than 6 tons, and has capacity in four bands: C, Ku, Ka and X. Oliveira said that the C band capacity is already hired because the D2 replaces the C2; in Ku band there will be an expansion of capacity; the Ka band will be used for Claro Móvil; and the X for the Brazilian Ministry of Defense.