Posted: Tue, Jun 17, 2003, 10:45 AM ET (1445 GMT)
Alcatel Space and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems each announced contracts for two commercial communications satellites this week. On Tuesday Lockheed Martin announced that it won a contract from SES Astra to build two new communications satellites, Astra 1KR and Astra 1L. Both satellites are based on Lockheed's A2100AX satellite bus and will be located at 19.2 degrees east longitude. Astra 1KR, scheduled for launch in the second half of 2005, will feature 32 Ku-band transponders while Astra 1L, planned for launch in 2006, will have a total of 31 Ka- and Ku-band transponders. The spacecraft are replacements for Astra 1K, which was lost in a Proton launch failure last November. Also on Tuesday, Alcatel announced it won a $190-million contract from Brazilian satellite operator Star One to build the Star One C1 spacecraft. That spacecraft, a Spacebus 3000B3 model, will be located at 65 degrees west and carry a total of 37 Ku- and C-band transponders. The spacecraft will be launched by the end of 2005 on an Ariane 5. That contract comes a day after Alcatel announced winning a $150-million contract from African satellite operator RascomStar-QAF for an unnamed satellite. That spacecraft, also a Spacebus 3000B3, will be located at 2.9 degrees east and carry 12 Ku-band and 8 C-band transponders.
