[SatNews] Astrium has been awarded a contract by global satellite operator Telesat to build the latest addition to Telesat’s fleet of communications satellites. This satellite will use Astrium’s highly-reliable Eurostar E3000 platform.

Telesat’s new, multi-mission satellite will replace and significantly expand on Telstar 12 at 15 degrees West. Scheduled to be launched at the end of 2015, Telesat’s newest satellite will have powerful coverage of the Americas and EMEA regions as well as maritime zones in Europe, the Caribbean and South Atlantic.

“This latest contract is an important win for our company and the fourth satellite to be designed and built by Astrium for Telesat,” said Eric Béranger, CEO of Astrium Satellites. “Telesat’s first three Astrium satellites, ordered between 2003 and 2006, have performed very well in orbit and contributed to a new reliability record for our Eurostar platform, which has now accumulated over 480 years of operations in orbit."

Telesat’s newest satellite will have a launch mass of under five tons with 11kW of electrical power and has been designed to have a nominal service life of more than 15 years in orbit.