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Feature story

Three more Service & Solutions contracts are added to Arianespace’s order book

December 24, 2008

Arianespace wrapped up another busy year of commercial activity by announcing three additional Service & Solutions contracts in the final days of December that underscored the company’s flexibility to meet its global customers’ varied launch requirements.

These three new orders cover missions with Arianespace’s heavyweight Ariane 5 and medium-lift Soyuz vehicles, and involve the launch of a direct TV broadcast satellite for the Middle East, the lofting of a spacecraft to provide direct TV links and telecommunications services over all of Japan, and the orbiting of an Earth observation platform for the government of Chile.

Arianespace was chosen to launch the Nilesat 201 satellite in the first quarter of 2010 as part of a turnkey contract signed by Thales Alenia Space with Egyptian operator Nilesat.   To be carried by an Ariane 5 or Soyuz from the Spaceport in French Guiana, Nilesat 201 will be placed into geostationary transfer orbit.  This spacecraft will weigh nearly 3,000 kg. at launch.

In a separate agreement, U.S. satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems selected Arianespace to launch BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R in the first half of 2011 for use by Japanese operators B-SAT Corporation and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.  The BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R platform will have a liftoff mass of approximately 3,000 kg., and will be deployed in geostationary transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 operating from the Spaceport.

 A Soyuz vehicle will orbit the third payload, Chile’s SSOT (Sistema Satelital para Observación de la Tierra) Earth observation satellite, under terms of an agreement with EADS Astrium.  The SSOT spacecraft is scheduled for launch from the Spaceport during the first half of 2010, and will be placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit.  This satellite is designed to supply very-high-quality images for civil and military applications that range from mapping and agriculture and the management of natural resources.

For additional information:

• See the press release on the Nilesat 201 launch contract,
• Review Arianespace’s announcement concerning the BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R order, and
• Read the press release for the SSOT launch services agreement.