PARIS -
Europe's Ariane 5 ECA rocket successfully placed a British military
telecommunications satellite and a Turkish commercial spacecraft into orbit
June 12 in the third of seven Ariane 5 liftoffs planned for 2008 and the 25th
consecutive Ariane 5 launch success.
Jean-Yves
Le Gall, chief executive of the Arianespace launch consortium, said the
company's next Ariane 5 launch, scheduled for July 4, will carry the
ProtoStar-1 and Badr-6 satellites owned by commercial startup Protostar Ltd. of
Bermuda and the Arabsat satellite-fleet operator of Saudi Arabia, respectively.
The launch
of the Skynet 5C telecommunications satellite completes the Skynet 5 in-orbit
fleet and follows the Skynet 5A and 5B launches in March and November 2007.
The Skynet 5
satellites are owned and operated
by Paradigm Secure Communications Ltd. of Britain, an Astrium Services
subsidiary that is under a long-term contract with the British Defence Ministry
to provide beyond-line-of-sight communications to British military forces until
2020. The British military makes annual lease payments in return for a
guaranteed level of telecommunications capacity and does not own the
infrastructure. Paradigm is free to sell excess Skynet capacity to other
customers. The business model is unique in its scope and volume -- 3.6 billion
British pounds ($7 billion) - and is being closely watched by other governments
in Europe and elsewhere.
The three
Skynet 5 spacecraft are Eurostar E3000 model satellites built by Astrium
Satellites, which like Astrium Services is owned by the EADS aerospace
conglomerate. Astrium's other space division - Astrium Space Transportation -
is prime contractor for the Ariane 5 rocket.
Skynet 5C
weighed 4,638 kilograms at launch and is expected to operate in orbit for 15
years. Its initial position will be at 17.8 degrees west longitude.
Patrick
Wood, Skynet program manager at Paradigm, said the Skynet 5C satellite was
delivered ahead of the schedule set eight years ago when the satellite contract
was signed.
Turksat 3A,
weighing 3,110 kilograms at launch and carrying 24 Ku-band transponders, was
built by Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy and will replace the retiring
Turksat 1C satellite at Turkey's 42 degrees east longitude slot. The satellite
is owned by Turksat AS of Ankara.
In an
address broadcast at the Guiana Space Center spaceport in French Guiana after
the launch, Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said Turksat 3A will
sell capacity to a large number of countries in the region. He said numerous
Turkish engineers had worked with Thales Alenia Space in France to build
Turksat 3A.
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