Sea Launch Wins Multiple Launch Award With PanAmSat

LONG BEACH, Calif., July 29, 2005/Satnews Daily/ ― PanAmSat Corp. (NYSE:PA) has selected the Sea Launch Co. for the launch of two new spacecraft in 2006 and 2007.

Sea Launch and PanAmSat have also signed an agreement providing for the first mission with a new Land Launch offering plus options for additional Land Launch missions.

The new Sea Launch missions will require Zenit-3SL vehicles to lift two 4700-kg spacecraft -- Galaxy 16 and Galaxy 18 -- to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Galaxy 16 is scheduled for launch in the 2nd Quarter of 2006, while Galaxy 18 will launch a year later.

Built by Space Systems/Loral, the 1300-series hybrid satellites will carry 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders and each is designed for a 15-year lifespan in orbit. Sea Launch's direct insertion into equatorial orbit is expected to yield additional years of life for each of the spacecraft.

Galaxy 16 will be located at 99 degrees West Longitude, providing advanced cable television, data and telecommunications services to the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada. Galaxy 18 will be positioned at 123 degrees West Longitude, with a similar footprint. These will be the fourth and fifth spacecraft Sea Launch will orbit for PanAmSat. Previous launches for PanAmSat include Galaxy 13/Horizons-1 in 2003, Galaxy 3C in 2002 and PAS-9 in 2000.

The effective date of the Land Launch contract, according to PanAmSat, is July 12, 2005. The agreement provides for a Zent-3SLB vehicle to lift the PAS-11 satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) from Baikonur by the end of the second quarter of 2007.

Built by Orbital Sciences Corp., the 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) Star-2 spacecraft will be located at 43 degrees West Longitude to provide television distribution services for Latin America. Previous Sea Launch missions for PanAmSat include Galaxy 13/Horizons-1 in 2003, Galaxy 3C in 2002 and PAS-9 in 2000.

For Land Launch missions, both the satellite and the launch vehicle will be processed and launched from existing Zenit processing and launch facilities at the Baikonur launch complex. Optimizing on heritage hardware, systems and expertise, Land Launch uses a Zenit-3SLB version of the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket to lift commercial satellites in the 2000-3500 kg range to GTO.

“The Land Launch system is well positioned to reliably and efficiently serve the emerging market requirement for medium weight commercial satellites,” said Jim Maser, president and general manager of Sea Launch.

“For the past three years, PanAmSat has been challenging the industry to rethink its approach towards asset deployment in what remains a marketplace with generally higher supply than demand,” said Jim Frownfelter, president and chief operating officer of PanAmSat.

He said the use of smaller satellites can significantly improve the industry's return on investment, provide higher reliability, and enable manageable contingency and recovery plans which allow for a more robust network architecture. He said PanAmSat is pleased that Sea Launch, SIS and the Russian Space Agency have embraced this philosophy by applying the reliable Sea Launch technology that PanAmSat has come to trust towards the efficient deployment of smaller satellite platforms.

The Land Launch program is based on the collaboration of the Sea Launch Company and Space International Services (SIS), both international companies, to meet the launch needs of an emerging market for dedicated commercial launches in the medium spacecraft mass range. Sea Launch and SIS provide commercial customers with mission management while SIS is responsible for hardware production and launch operations.

Land Launch uses Boeing's experience and hardware acceptance procedures that have contributed to the outstanding launch record of the Sea Launch system. Launches are executed with the firm support of the Russian Federal Space Agency, headed by A. N. Perminov.

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