The Azerspace/Africasat-1a satellite on Arianespace’s 2013 year-opening Ariane 5 mission has undergone its fit-check as preparations move ahead for the February 7 dual-passenger flight from French Guiana.
Azerspace/Africasat-1a is the center of attention during its fit-check in the S1B clean room.
During activity in the Spaceport’s S1B clean room facility, this telecommunications relay platform was initially mated with the cone-shape adapter that will serve as its interface with the launcher’s payload “stack.” Following completion of this milestone, Azerspace/Africasat-1a was transferred to the larger S5 payload preparation building at the Spaceport, where it will be fueled.
Orbital Sciences Corporation designed and built Azerspace/Africasat-1a under contract to the Republic of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies – which is the shareholder in the country's national satellite operator, Azercosmos.
The satellite is based on Orbital’s STAR-2 platform, and will have a liftoff mass of approximately 3,250 kg., with a designed mission life of 15 years. It carries 36 active C- and Ku-band transponders, enabling the spacecraft to provide communications coverage for Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe and Africa from an orbital location of 46 deg. East.
Azerspace/Africasat-1a is to be orbited along with Amazonas 3 on the upcoming Ariane 5 flight – the first of six missions planned for Arianespace’s heavy-lift workhorse in 2013.
Aloha! Arianespace At PTC’13
[SatNews] Today this Company asserted its position as today’s benchmark services company for...
the world's satellite manufacturers and operators. PTC'13 is the 2013 edition of the annual event in Honolulu that brings together communications and information technology professionals from throughout the Asia-Pacific.
Arianespace is participating in the PTC'13 conference organized by the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu from January 20 to 23. Following an especially successful year in 2012, Arianespace starts 2013 with the stated objective of further bolstering its world leadership in the satellite launch market.
During a panel discussion on the satellite industry at PTC'13, Jacques Breton, Arianespace Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, expressed his thanks to telecom operators in the Asia-Pacific region for their continued trust.
Some 65 percent of all satellites now in service for this region were launched by Arianespace. Furthermore, Arianespace has been represented in this region for more than 25 years, with offices in Tokyo and Singapore.
Since being created in 1980, Arianespace has signed over 350 launch contracts and launched 311 satellites. With 53 successful launches in a row, Ariane 5 closed out 2012 with ten uninterrupted years of success, an extraordinary level of reliability that is largely unrivaled in this industry.
And with seven Ariane 5 launches, plus two by Soyuz and one by Vega during 2012, Arianespace performed ten launches in a year from the Guiana Space Center for the first time. Two of these missions orbited the JCSAT-13 and Vinasat-2 satellites for Japan and Vietnam, respectively.
Order intake in 2012 was remarkable, giving Arianespace a market share of 60 percent, and a backlog of orders equal to three years of operation. Arianespace's backlog is the largest in the industry, including 18 Ariane 5 launches, plus 12 for Soyuz and three for Vega. These contracts were signed with 25 different customers from around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
For example, in 2012 Arianespace signed the launch contract for the Jabiru-1 satellite with the new Australian operator, Newsat, and will launch the Optus-10 satellite this year for another Australian operator, Optus.
Follow Arianespace's launch activity at.