Enclosed in its protective shipping container, JCSAT-15 is unloaded following its delivery to Félix Eboué International Airport via cargo jetliner.

This Japanese spacecraft was delivered last week to Félix Eboué International Airport near French Guiana’s capital city of Cayenne, then transferred by road for processing inside the Spaceport’s S5 satellite preparation facility.

JCSAT-15 was produced by Space Systems Loral (SSL) using its SSL 1300 platform. Equipped with Ku-band transponders, the 10-kW-class satellite will be used by operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corp to help broadcast its multi-channel pay TV service SKY PerfecTV! across Japan, as well as provide data transfer communications and maritime/aviation applications for the Oceania and Indian Ocean regions.

A dual-payload Arianespace mission with SSL satellites

Both payloads on the Ariane 5 mission in December – designated Flight VA234 in Arianespace’s numbering system – will be SSL-built satellites.  In addition to JCSAT-15, it will orbit Star One D1 for Brazil’s Embratel Star One.

Initiating the fourth generation “D” family of Embratel Star One satellites, Star One D1 is the largest ever built for the company, equipped with C-, Ku-, and Ka- band relay capacity. It will have a total mass at liftoff of 6,433 kg.

Flight VA234 with Star One D1 and JCSAT-15 will follow Arianespace’s upcoming mission with its heavy-lift launcher, which is to orbit the next four satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation system on November 17; and the next lightweight Vega launch, scheduled for December 5 with Turkey’s GÖKTÜRK-1A observation satellite.