Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has taken sole possession of the Ka-band Jabiru-1 satellite it was building for now-bankrupt operator NewSat of Australia.
The satellite is 70 percent complete, and Marchetto said Lockheed Martin has been approached by 13 companies that could potentially repurpose the hardware, which is configured to operate in geostationary orbit over the Asia-Pacific region. A buyer planning to use the satellite in that region would require fewer modifications than one targeting a different area.
Marchetto said he believes Lockheed Martin will find a buyer within six months. “It will find a new home with the right partner, with the right operator, and we’ll be involved in it and we’ll get ready,” he said. “There are a lot of ideas that are coming to us.”
