Angola satellite inoperative, Russia to build another one

[April 24, 2018]  LUANDA (Reuters) - Russia's space agency said on Monday that Angola's first national telecoms satellite, AngoSat-1, was inoperative and Russia would build another one for launch in 2020.

Launched in December from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the satellite has been plagued by problems including the loss of communications and is now regarded as a write-off, Russian and Angolan officials told a news conference on Monday.

"We are going to start the AngoSat-2 construction," Igor Frolov, a representative for Energia, a unit of Russia's space agency, said.

The written-off satellite was insured and Russia will pay the rest of the undisclosed costs for the second satellite.

(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Richard Balmforth)

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