The AMOS-class is a family of geo-synchronous communication satellites, developed, launched and controlled by MBT.

Nine months after its original launching date, AMOS 2, the second Israeli telecommunications satellite launched on December 27 from Baikonur, the renowned former Soviet imperial launching pad in Kazakhstan. The AMOS 2 satellite will be co-located with AMOS 1 at 4° West and will provide additional high-powered capacity over Europe, the Middle East and the east coast of the U.S.A. 

AMOS 2 represents the second generation of communications satellites built by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI). Its predecessor, AMOS 1, was launched in 1996. AMOS 2, which weighs 1.4 tons, will cover the entire Middle East and Europe, and will be able to transmit higher-powered broadcasts than the one-ton AMOS 1. The new satellite, like its predecessor, will be positioned 36,000 kilometers above the earth, and it will lie close to AMOS 1, so that the two can share a single space antenna. 

The Spacecom-owned AMOS 2 will provide communications services to television networks in Israel, Europe and the United States. According to Spacecom CEO David Pollack, the company has already signed contracts for about 70 percent of the satellite's broadcast capacity - a noteworthy achievement when compared to AMOS 1, which did not have a single customer at the time it was launched. AMOS 2's customers will include the Israeli government, the Yes satellite television company, the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Gilat Satellite Networks, Germany's RTL television station and the American cable television station HBO. The latter will broadcast to six countries in Europe via AMOS 2. 

AMOS 2 covers the US, which AMOS 1 didn't. In professional jargon, this is called an Atlantic bridge. All the customers who positioned antennas to receive AMOS 1 will receive service from AMOS 2. The number of transponders is 50% more than the AMOS 1. AMOS 2 has 22 active 36-Mhz segments, while AMOS 1 has 14. Not only can AMOS 2 serve more transponders, but the transponders are more powerful: 76 watts per transponder, compared with 33 watts per transponder with AMOS 1. That has enabled to xpand our European coverage very significantly, to the Ural mountains in the east, London in the west, Balkans in the south and better coverage of the Persian Gulf countries.

Spacecom, a joint venture between IAI, Eurocom, Mer Services Group and General Satellite Services Co., invested some $130 million in AMOS 2, including $70 million to build the satellite, $35 million for the launch and $25 million for insurance. Once the launch has been successfully completed, Spacecom intends to start raising the $160 million needed to build AMOS 3. The goal is to launch AMOS 3, which will weigh two tons, by 2007, so that it will ready to replace AMOS 1, which is due to cease operations in 2008. 

AMOS 2 was originally supposed to be launched by the French launcher Ariane 5, as AMOS 1 was.
However, the French sold the launch slot to another customer, due to what it claimed were
delays in the satellite's production. After IAI threatened a lawsuit, Ariane arranged the alternative launch on the Soyuz, which is made by a company jointly owned by Ariane. 

Phase 1:  Three-stage vehicle ascent phase and injection of the Nose Module to an unclosed orbit by the Soyuz Launch Vehicle – Nose Module separation from the third stage

Phase 2:  First Fregat burn: injection to the circular parking orbit

Phase 3:  Coast phase on the parking orbit

Phase 4:  Second FREGAT burn at ascending node: injection to the intermediate transfer orbit, firs tinclination reduction

Phase 5:  Coast phase on the intermediate transfer orbit

Phase 6:  Third FREGAT burn at descending node: injection to the GTO, second inclination reduction

Phase 7:  Orientation and three-axis stabilization maneuvers – Spacecraft separation

Phase 8:  FREGAT maneuver to be placed onto a safe orbit

After spacecraft separation, the Fregat upper stage is injected onto a safe orbit, using one burn of its attitude control thrusters.

The addition of the restartable Ikar upper stage to the three-stage Soyuz in 1999 allowed Starsem to launch 24 satellites of the Globalstar constellation in 6 launches.

Following this success, Starsem introduced the flexible, restartable Fregat upper stage with significantly more propellant capacity than the Ikar, thus opening up a full range of missions (LEO, SSO, MEO, GTO, GEO, and escape).

In 2005, Starsem will introduce an upgraded version of the Soyuz launch vehicle, which adds increased payload volume (4.110-m fairing) and flexibility (digital control system) to this launch system and meets
both the performance and payload accommodation needs of the customer.

The Samara Space Center continues to mass-produce the Soyuz in Samara, Russia. As a result of continued demand from the Russian government, International Space Station activity, and Starsem's commercial orders, the Soyuz is in uninterrupted production at an average rate of 10 to 15 launch vehicles per year with a capability to rapidly scale up to accommodate user's needs. In fact, peak production of the Soyuz in the early 1980's reached 60 vehicles per year.

The Soyuz is a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective solution for a full range of missions from LEO to Mars. In its unequalled flight history, the Soyuz has already performed almost every mission profile, including orbiting satellites for telecommunications, Earth observation, weather monitoring, scientific missions and manned flights. It is a highly responsive and flexible launch vehicle.

The Soyuz currently offered by Starsem is a four-stage launch vehicle. The vehicles each consist of four boosters (first stage), a central core (second stage), a third stage, and the restartable Fregat upper stage (fourth stage). Each vehicle also includes a payload adapter/dispenser and fairing.

L-6 weeks:  Launch campaign activities begin at the Cosmodrome; AMOS 2 arrives at the Cosmodrome and begins spacecraft preparation activities in Starsem's PPF

L-4 weeks:  Filling of spacecraft begins

L-18 days:  Preparation and assembly of the launch vehicle lower three stages begins

L-18 days:  Combined operations begin in UCIF. These activities mate the spacecraft to the adapter and Fregat upper stage, followed by encapsulation with the fairing

L-8 days:  Upper composite (spacecraft + adapter + Fregat + fairing) is transferred to assembly facility
                 near the launch pad where it is mated to the lower three stages of the launch vehicle

L-6 days:  The Transfer Readiness Review ensures the Soyuz and its payload are ready for final launch
pad activity and launch

L-5 days:  The fully assembled launch vehicle is transferred to the pad and erected in the vertical
position; Check out and countdown rehearsal for the lower 3 stages of the vehicle takes
place

L-2 days:  Countdown rehearsal for the customer's spacecraft and the Fregat upper stage

L-8 hours:  Final countdown begins; Systems checks on Soyuz begin

L-5 hours:  Systems checks begin on Fregat upper stage

L-4h 20m:  Launch vehicle filling authorization review

L-4 hours:  Launch vehicle fueling begins

L-30 minutes:  Removal of service platform

L-2m 35s:  Pressurization of propellant tanks

L-45 seconds:  Transfer to on-board power supply

L-20 seconds:  Ignition of booster and core engines at intermediate thrust level

L-0:  Liftoff!