Posted: Tue, Oct 21, 2003, 8:26 PM ET (0026 GMT)
Middle Eastern satellite operator Arabsat announced Tuesday that it will purchase two new communications satellites from EADS Astrium and launch them on Protons provided by International Launch Services. The two satellites, named Arabsat 4A and 4B, are both Eurostar 2000+ satellites built by Astrium with a mass of 3,330 kilograms each. Arabsat 4A, to be located at 26 degrees east, will have 24 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders. Arabsat 4B, to be colocated with Arabsat 4A, will have 28 Ku-band transponders. The communications payloads for both satellites will be provided by Alcatel. The two spacecraft will be launched on Proton M vehicles in late 2005 and early 2006 under a contract with ILS. The value of neither the satellite manufacturing nor launch contracts was disclosed. Space News reported in its print edition this week that Astrium was closely matched with Lockheed Martin in the competition for the satellite orders, but that Arabsat would likely pick Astrium because of export control concerns associated with doing business with an American company.
