Angola's telecommunications minister, José Carvalho da Rocha, has announced that the country's ongoing satellite project, the AngoSat-2, is on track for its scheduled 2022 launch.

Rocha said the country's second national telecommunications satellite is 50% completed and will be finished in 2020, followed by a series of technical tests before it is sent to orbit in 2022.

AngoSat-2 will replace AngoSat-1, a US$320-million investment by the government of Angola, that was lost in space moments after separating from the rocket upper stage that took it to geostationary transfer orbit.

Built by Roscosmos State Corporation (RSC) Energia of Moscow, Angosat-1 telecommunications satellite initially established contact, but then ceased to continue communicating with ground teams on 27 December 2017 while en route to its 13 degrees East orbital location.

In April 2018, the satellite was officially declared lost and Angolan government accepted RSC's offer to provide a replacement, AngoSat-2, at no cost to the North African country.

The cost is being covered by a US$121-million insurance payout from the lost AngoSat-1, while the rest will be paid by the Russian government which will also procure the mission's launch service.

"The construction of Angosat-2 is under the complementary protocol between Angola and Russia under the Angosat-1 contract. To ensure the satellite's functioning, the executive is investing in the training of national specialists," Rocha told journalists.

Until the completion of AngoSat-2 assembly and successful launch, Russia will continue to provide analogous frequency resources to Angola as immediate replacement capacity for the lost AngoSat-1.

Angola Space Program Management Office said that one of the satellite compensation signals available to Angola is in C-band. It is provided by the Russian satellite AM7 operated by RSCC, the public operator Russian communications satellite. The other signal, in KU-band, is provided by the European satellite Eutelsat 3B.

Beyond AngoSat-2, the government of Angola has already committed to another satellite project, AngoSat-3, which Airbus has been selected to construct at a price of US$179-million.