Intelsat New Dawn checkout
This is the first-ever African private sector communications satellite – which is one of two spacecraft passengers to be orbited on Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 mission, scheduled for March 29. Equipped with 28 C-band and 24 Ku-band 36 MHz transponders designed specifically to supply critical communications infrastructure for African customers, Intelsat New Dawn will deliver wireless backhaul, broadband and media content, which are the fastest growing satellite-based applications in Africa. The satellite was produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, and will have a mass at liftoff of 3,000 kg. After its deployment by Ariane 5, the spacecraft will be positioned at a geostationary orbital slot at 32.8 degrees East for its Africa area coverage.
Intelsat New Dawn is the result of a joint venture with a consortium led by Convergence Partners and Intelsat. Once in service, the satellite will be operated and marketed as a part of the global Intelsat fleet, bringing to 22 the number of Intelsat satellites serving Africa. The Intelsat New Dawn spacecraft is to be orbited along with co-passenger Yahsat Y1A on another of Ariane 5’s dual-payload flights, marking Arianespace’s second mission of 2011 with the heavy-lift workhorse launcher. This flight, designated VA201, will mark the 201st launch of an Ariane family vehicle since the maiden liftoff of an Ariane 1 version in 1979.
Additionally, ARSAT has once again selected Arianespace for its commercial launch services – this time to orbit the Argentinean satellite operator’s second satellite, Arsat-2.
Participating in this week’s Satellite 2011 conference in Washington, D.C., Arianespace announced that it has signed a launch Service & Solutions contract with Argentine operator ARSAT (Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitales Sociedad Anonima) to orbit its Arsat-2 satellite by the second half of 2013. Weighing about 2,900 kg at launch, Arsat-2 will be placed into geostationary transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Arsat-2 will be fitted with 26 Ku-band (2 beams) and 10 C-band (hemi beam) equivalent transponders. It will offer a wide range of telecommunications, data transmission, Internet and television services, primarily across the Americas from Argentina to Canada. The satellite is being built by the Argentine company INVAP, with Astrium and Thales Alenia Space as leading equipment suppliers. Arsat-2 will be the third Argentine satellite launched by Arianespace, following Nahuel 1A orbited in 1997 and Arsat-1 to be launched in mid 2012.