Arianespace has ordered 18 additional Ariane 5 ECA rockets from prime contractor Astrium in a deal worth approximately €2bn.
Speaking at a press briefing in Paris, Arianespace chairman and chief executive Stéphane Israël told journalists that the…
Arianespace has ordered 18 additional Ariane 5 ECA rockets from prime contractor Astrium in a deal worth approximately €2bn.
Speaking at a press briefing in Paris, Arianespace chairman and chief executive Stéphane Israël told journalists that the launch services provider is in the process of ordering new hardware for all three classes of rocket that it operates.
The agreement with Astrium is for the provision of long-lead items for the next batch of 18 Ariane 5s, which would be available from 2017. These items and the first production activities are valued at more than €400m.
Astrium, which has been prime contractor for Ariane 5 since 2003, and Arianespace plan to sign the full production contract for the additional launchers before the end of 2013.
Arianespace currently has 20 launchers remaining from the 35 Ariane 5s it ordered in 2009.
The launch service provider is also in discussions with the Russian state over ordering 7-10 more medium-lift Soyuz rockets, to be used from 2016. It currently has 11 rockets under contract for near- and medium-term missions.
Finally, Arianespace has held talks with the European Space Agency and prime contractor ELV over the supply of 5 new lightweight Vega rockets. Arianespace successfully launched its first Vega on 6 May 2013 and there are currently 4 launchers under construction.
At the same briefing Arianespace announced that it had recently signed 6 new contracts for missions in 2015 and 2016. These comprise launches for US DTH provider DirecTV, Intelsat, Star One, Sky Perfect JSAT and nascent state-owned Brazilian operator Visiona Tecnologia Espacial.
The first of these will be Intelsat-34, which is scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 2015. The satellite is currently being constructed by Space System Loral and will replace Intelsat-805 and Galaxy-11 at 304.5E.
Based on SSL’s 1300 platform, Intelsat-34 will serve the role originally intended for Intelsat-27, which was lost following the failed launch of a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket in January 2013.
The new 3 ton satellite is specifically designed to meet media distribution requirements in Latin America as well as provide North Atlantic maritime and aeronautical broadband services. However, unlike Intelsat-27, Intelsat-34 does not have a UHF-band military payload.
Arianespace has then agreed to launch a new as yet unnamed satellite for DirecTV in the second half of 2015. The satellite is currently being built by Orbital Sciences, is based on the manufacturer’s Star 2 platform and will weigh 3.2 tons.
The spacecraft is likely to be used to provide additional Ku-band broadcast capacity for its Mexican DTH joint venture with Grupo Televisa, Sky Mexico.
Arianespace’s next mission will see it launch a new 5 ton satellite for Japanese satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT in late 2015. It will be the 28th Japanese satellite launched by Arianespace.
SatelliteFinance understands that the spacecraft is JCSat-14, which is currently being constructed by SSL and will replace JCSAT-2A at 154E. The satellite has 26 C-band and 18-Ku-band transponders for service in Asia, Russia, Oceania, and the Pacific Islands. The C-band coverage will be used for both broadcast and data networks and the Ku-band regional beams will provide high-speed connectivity for maritime, aviation and resource exploration use.
In the first half of 2016, Arianespace will launch the Star One-D1 satellite for Brazilian satellite operator Star One. Again the satellite is currently being constructed by SSL and based on the 1300 platform. With a mass of 6 tons at launch, D1 will be located at 84E and be equipped with C-, Ku-, and Ka-band and broadcast, telecommunications and broadband services across Brazil and Latin America. D1 is the first satellite of Star One’s fourth generation and will support the Olympic Games in 2016.
In the same time period, the launch services provider will loft another Brazilian Ka-band satellite for Visiona Tecnologia Espacial, the joint venture between Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and incumbent telco Telebras.
Visiona was tasked by the Brazilian space agency AEB to manage and operate the Geostationary Satellite Defence and Strategic Communications Satellite (SGDC), the country’s first satellite dedicated to the deployment of rural satellite broadband services for the Ministry of Telecommunications as well as strategic communications for the Ministry of Defence.
Located at 75W, the SGDC satellite will be built by Thales Alenia Space and will be fitted with X- and Ka-band transponders.
Arianespace will then launch another Brazil focussed satellite in the third quarter of 2016 with the launch of Intelsat-32, which will host DirecTV’s Sky Brasil-1 payload.
The 6.3 ton satellite, which will be located at 43W, is currently being built by Astrium and will be equipped with 81 transponders in the Ku- and Ka-bands.
Including these new contracts, Arianespace has signed a total of 13 launch contracts worth €1.162bn in 2013, representing a market share of 62%.
The company’s backlog is now worth €4.14bn and includes 34 payloads for Ariane 5 missions, 10 Soyuz launches and four Vega flights.
