spacetoday.net: Russian company selects European firms for new satellites, launches

Posted: Tue, Feb 10, 2009, 5:41 AM ET (1041 GMT)
A Russian company has spurned domestic companies in favor of a pair of European companies to build and launch two new communications satellites. Gazprom Space Systems announced late last week that it had selected Thales Alenia Space to build the Yamal-401 and -402 satellites and Arianespace to launch them. The two satellites will be based on the Spacebus 4000C3 bus and weigh between 4,800 and 4,900 kilograms. Yamal-401 will be located at 90 degrees east in GEO and carry 36 Ku-band and 17 C-band transponders, while Yamal-402 will be located at 55 degrees east and carry 46 Ku-band transponders. The satellites will be launched by Ariane 5 rockets in the second half of 2011. The deal was selected over an alternative proposal where Thales Alenia would have cooperated with a Russian company, apparently to maximize the project's ability to qualify for export-credit financing.