MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. The work to develop and launch the Angosat-2 telecoms satellite for Angola to replace its predecessor Angosat-1 that is out of order has been assigned to the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company, the Energia Space Rocket Corporation (the satellite’s previous developer) said on Thursday.

"During the work fulfillment, the foreign customer put forward a demand that the work for creating and launching the Angosat-2 satellite be reassigned from the Energia Space Rocket Corporation to the Reshetnev Satellite Information Company," Energia said in its 2019 consolidated financial statements.

According to the document, the Reshetnev Company will also assume all the rights and obligations for stating, maintaining and formalizing the rights to orbital frequency assignments. In addition, the Energia Space Rocket Corporation will transfer allocated but unspent funds for the satellite’s development to the Reshetnev Company.

"The Board of Directors of the Energia Space Rocket Corporation has also taken note of the fact that the Group will additionally post 7.8 billion rubles [about $104 million] to other expenditures in 2020 as a result of this deal for the work re-assignment," the financial statements say.

Angosat-1 satellite

The Angosat-1 telecoms satellite was launched by a Zenit-2SB carrier rocket with a Fregat booster from the Baikonur spaceport on December 26, 2017. The contact with the satellite was lost on December 27 after its separation from the booster. Attempts to restore the contact with the satellite had been made until mid-January 2018 while it stayed within the area of direct radio visibility from the territory of Russia.

The Angolan side recognized the Angosat-1 telecoms satellite as unserviceable. At the same time, Energia reported that Russia and Angola had agreed on making the Angosat-2 satellite instead of the lost space vehicle. The Russian side will also provide C- and Ku-band frequency resources to Angola for communications while the second satellite is being manufactured.

Deputy Head of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos for Relations with State Authorities Sergei Dubik said in the lower house of Russia’s parliament in late January that the Angolan side was choosing the producer of the new satellite between two enterprises: the Energia Space Rocket Corporation and the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company.

"As a result, they decided that Energia would be making the satellite," the Roscosmos official said at the time.

The Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company is the developer and manufacturer of Glonass navigation satellites, Luch relay and communications satellites and other space vehicles.