Space Communication Technologies (SCT), Oman’s national satellite operator, has awarded a contract to Airbus Defence and Space, a major player in the aerospace industry, for OmanSat-1, the first Omani satellite.

OmanSat-1 is described by Airbus as a state-of-the-art fully reconfigurable high-throughput OneSat telecommunications satellite and associated system. SCT is the lead centre for Oman’s National Satellite Programme, building satellite communications infrastructure to create capabilities to serve both the public and private sectors.

The fully digital, in-orbit-reconfigurable OmanSat-1 will deliver high Ka-band capacity primarily over Oman including its economic waters and the whole of the Middle East, East Africa and Asia.

Airbus says the fully reconfigurable design will allow SCT to meet customer needs for high-throughput services including government and private networks, oil and gas, banking, broadband, maritime and aero connectivity. SCT aims to be one of the major players in those markets.

Airbus will deliver an end-to-end fully integrated solution, including design and manufacture of the satellite and highly capable ground segment software components as well as the launch service. This is the tenth satellite under contract for the Airbus OneSat spacecraft product line.

Airbus explains that its OneSats can be fully reconfigured while in orbit, capable of adjusting their coverage, capacity and frequency ‘on the fly’ to meet evolving mission scenarios. It adds that this satellite builds on the heritage of Airbus’ ultra-reliable Eurostar geostationary telecommunications satellites and the company’s constellation expertise with the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO constellation of over 600 satellites.