Arianespace Flight 154: 10th success in 9 months, And Ariane’s 22nd Launch for International Telecommunications Provider Intelsat

Arianespace today orbited
the Intelsat 906 communications satellite for international communications
provider Intelsat. This accurate early morning mission came one week after
the latest successful launch of an Ariane 5.

22nd launch for Intelsat, Arianespace’s first customer

Intelsat 906 is the fifth satellite to be launched by Arianespace in the
Intelsat IX series — the new generation of satellites deployed by this global
communications provider. It also was the 22nd Intelsat satellite carried by
Ariane.

The collaboration between Arianespace and Intelsat goes back to 1983.
Sixty percent of the Intelsat satellites in operation today were orbited by
the European launcher, making the company Arianespace’s largest customer.

The first series IX satellite, Intelsat 901, was launched by Arianespace
on June 9, 2001 (Flight 141), followed by Intelsat 902 on August 30, 2001
(Flight 143), Intelsat 904 on February 23, 2002 (Flight 148) and by Intelsat
905 on June 5, 2002 (Flight 152).

One more Intelsat IX satellite is scheduled for an Arianespace launch in
the beginning of 2003.

Flight 154 is Arianespace’s 10th successful launch in 9 months. This
steady pace reflects the regularity and quality of the Ariane system. Since
the beginning of the year, Arianespace also has won nine out of the twelve
launch contracts open to competition.

Upcoming launch:

The launch preparation campaign for the next Ariane 5 mission began in
Kourou on August 22. A 10-ton payload lift version of the Ariane 5 is slated
to carry 2 European satellites: HOT BIRD(TM) 7 for Eutelsat and STENTOR for
the French space agency, CNES.

Flight 154 at a glance: 71st consecutive Ariane 4 success

Flight 154 was carried out by an Ariane 44L, the version of the launcher
with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters, from Europe’s Spaceport in
Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff was on September 6, 2002 at 6:44 a.m. GMT
(3:44 a.m. local time in Kourou, 8:44 a.m. in Paris and 2:44 a.m. in
Washington, DC).

    Provisional parameters at third stage injection were:

     Perigee:  199.7 km for a target of 199.8 km (+/- 3 km)
     Apogee:   35,929 km for a target of 35,943 km (+/- 150 km)
     Inclination:   6.995 degrees for a target of 7.00 degrees
     (+/- 0.06 degrees)

The Intelsat 906 satellite

Built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California, Intelsat 906 will
be positioned at 64 degrees East. It will join Intelsat’s fleet of satellites
providing Internet connections, telephony, television and enterprise network
services for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Weighing
4,723 kg at liftoff, Intelsat 906 is fitted with 72 C-band transponders and 22
Ku-band transponders (in 36 MHz unit equivalents). The payload was designed
and built by Alcatel Space. Design life in orbit is more than 13 years.

About Arianespace

Arianespace is the commercial launch services leader, holding more than 50
percent of the international market for satellites launched to geostationary
transfer orbit (GTO). Created in 1980 as the world’s first commercial space
transportation company, Arianespace has launched more than 200 satellite
payloads. For further information, see the Arianespace Web site at
http://www.arianespace.com .