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Satnews Daily
April 28th, 2014

Optus + Space Systems/Loral—A Date In May For Optus 10 (Launch Scheduling)


[SatNews] Australian satellite provider Optus has confirmed that its state-of-the art Optus 10 satellite is scheduled for launch in late May of 2014.


Optus 10 is a Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) spacecraft being built for Australian telecommunications service provider Optus.

Artistic rendition is courtesy of Space Systems/Loral.

Over the past few days, the Optus and Space Systems/Loral (SSL) teams have completed the final pre-shipment review. The Optus 10 satellite has also been packed and loaded onto an Antonov heavy lift aircraft for transportation to the Arianespace launch base in French Guiana in South America. Optus has been the leading provider of satellite services across Australia and New Zealand for almost 30 years and remains the only network provider in Australia to both own and operate its own fleet of satellites.

Optus 10 will be launched by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on board an Ariane-5 launch vehicle. Optus 10 will be the sixth satellite launched by Arianespace for Optus. Arianespace launched Optus’ A3 satellite in 1987 followed by C1 in 2003, D1 in 2006, D2 in 2007 and D3 in 2009.

US-based satellite manufacturer SSL constructed the Optus 10 satellite in Palo Alto, California. This is the second Optus satellite supplied by SSL after the C1 satellite delivered to Optus and the Australian Department of Defence in 2003.

Optus 10 will weigh about 3200 kilograms at launch and will provide increased fleet resilience and significantly increase Optus’ fleet capacity, providing increased bandwidth to support the delivery of video, data and voice services to corporate, enterprise and government customers. The satellite is expected to have a life span well in excess of 15 years.

For further information regarding Optus, please visit http://www.optus.com.au/

Space System/Loral's infosite is accessible at http://www.sslmda.com/