[SatNews] The latest crop of the Company's 2G satellites have been delivered to their launch site...
Globalstar, Inc. (Nasdaq:GSAT) has taken delivery of seven additional second-generation (2G) satellites from manufacturer Thales Alenia Space. The new satellites have been shipped to the pre-launch preparation facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and six of the spacecraft will now undergo preparations and testing for an October launch using the reliable Soyuz launch vehicle. This will be the third launch of Globalstar's new 2G satellites. Launch services provider Arianespace was contracted in 2007 to conduct a total of four launches carrying six satellites each, using the Soyuz launch vehicle, which has now been used to successfully launch Globalstar satellites on ten previous occasions.
"With this milestone delivery of satellites, Globalstar continues to proceed, on schedule, with preparations for our third second-generation satellite launch expected in early October," said Tony Navarra, President, Global Operations for Globalstar, Inc. "With a total of eight satellites now in Baikonur, we have also started preparations for our fourth satellite launch which is now expected to take place prior to the end of the year."
The seven new Globalstar satellites join a previously shipped 2G spacecraft that was delivered earlier this summer. The second-generation Globalstar constellation is designed to be fully compatible with the Company's current lineup of voice, Duplex and Simplex data products and services including its lineup of SPOT retail consumer products. Once the new constellation is launched and fully deployed the Company expects to once again reliably provide the world's finest quality mobile satellite voice and fastest mobile satellite handset data services to commercial and government customers in more than 120 countries.


