This year marks the 35th anniversary of Arianespace’s first satellite launch for an Asia-Pacific customer and the 20th anniversary of the company opening its regional office in Singapore. The long record of success will be further boosted in 2016, with six satellite launches planned for Asia-Pacific customers.

Arianespace confirms leadership in the Asia-Pacific market

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of Arianespace’s regional office in Singapore.

Since Arianespace’s first launch for an Asian customer in 1981 (the experimental payload Apple for the Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO), the company has launched a total of 73 satellites for 16 Asia-Pacific operators from 11 countries*. The Asia-Pacific region is a core market for Arianespace, contributing significantly to a 60% global market share for commercial launches. This represents around 25 % of Arianespace’s global business. Arianespace is the launch service provider of choice for new operators in the region and has launched the very first satellites for Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Looking to the future, Arianespace has contracts to orbit another 11 satellites from Asia-Pacific customers, with a record number of six satellites planned in its 2016 manifest for five operators: Telkom Indonesia and PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Indonesia), ISRO (India), nbn (Australia) and two for SKY Perfect JSAT (Japan). All in all, more than 40% of payloads launched to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) by Arianespace during 2016 will be Asia-Pacific satellites.

The next launch for this region is planned for PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BRI). This will be another first for Arianespace, since BRI is the first bank in the world to purchase its own satellite. BRIsat will provide enhanced secure banking communications for more than 10,600 operational branches, some 237,000 electronic channel outlets and nearly 53 million customers across the Indonesian archipelago. BRISat will be launched onboard an Ariane 5 from the Guiana Space Center on June 8.

After BRIsat, Ariane 5 will be launching five more satellites for Asia-Pacific operators this year: Superbird-8 and JCSAT 15 for SKY Perfect JSAT, GSAT 18 for ISRO, Sky Muster II for nbn and Telkom 3S** for Telkom Indonesia. Sky Muster II will be the eighth satellite launched for Australia, with Optus also having entrusted Arianespace to launch all of its currently operational satellites. Telkom 3S** future launch will follow Telkom 2 and Telkom 1 orbited successfully by Arianespace in previous missions.

“Mission to Success:” Arianespace reaffirms its ambitious goal

In 2015, Arianespace rose to the operational challenge of carrying out 12 missions from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), orbiting 21 satellites for 14 customers. At the same time, Arianespace continued to adapt its launch services offering to market requirements, enabling it to set an all-time record for orders booked during the year, worth over 2.5 billion euros.

Building on this operational and business success, Arianespace has continued with the same determination in 2016. With four successful launches already under its belt, using two Ariane 5 heavy-lift and two Soyuz medium-lift launchers, Arianespace is once again aiming to carry out 12 launches during the calendar year: eight with Ariane 5 (which would be a new record for this launcher), two with Soyuz and two with Vega.

Arianespace has already signed three new contracts since the beginning of the year:

• Two COMSAT NG satellites, for launch by Ariane 5: a contract with customers Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space on behalf of the French DGA defense procurement agency.
• CERES mission, for France’s CNES space agency as the customer, also on behalf of the DGA.
• 2 ViaSat satellites, for the customer ViaSat Inc.

Even before the end of the year, Arianespace is considering the start of marketing for Vega-C and Ariane 6, Europe’s new launch vehicles, slated for inaugural flights in 2019 and 2020, respectively. As part of the revamped governance of the launcher industry, Arianespace continues to focus on building foundations for the future and developing innovative solutions to deliver the best possible service to its customers.

“We are very proud of the 35 years of strong and reliable partnership with operators in the Asia-pacific region, which is reaffirmed this year with no less than six satellites to be launched to geostationary transfer orbit by Arianespace”, said Stéphane Israël, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace. “Taking advantage of the unparalleled excellence of our launchers and an increasingly competitive Arianespace family, we hope to maintain and intensify these special links in the future. The establishment of Ariane 6 and Vega-C will further reduce the cost of access to space and strengthen our ability to offer customized solutions to meet the specific demands of regional operators in all market segments.”

* Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
** Telkom3S replaces Telkom 3, which was lost on a failed launch of a Proton launch vehicle.

About Arianespace

To use space for a better life on earth, Arianespace guarantees access to space transportation services and solutions, for any type of satellite, commercial as well as institutional, into any orbit.

Since 1980, Arianespace has performed missions placing more than 500 satellites into orbit with its 3 launchers: Ariane, Soyuz and Vega.

Arianespace is headquartered in Évry, France near Paris, and has a facility at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, plus local offices in Washington D.C., Tokyo and Singapore.