The Arabsat 5C satellite built by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space was transported from the Astrium facilities in Toulouse, France by air to Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for its launch by an Ariane 5 vehicle in September 2011. Astrium and Thales Alenia Space are jointly responsible for building the satellite and delivering it […]
The Arabsat 5C satellite built by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space was transported from the Astrium facilities in Toulouse, France by air to Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for its launch by an Ariane 5 vehicle in September 2011. Astrium and Thales Alenia Space are jointly responsible for building the satellite and delivering it in orbit. Astrium, assembled and tested the spacecraft. Thales Alenia Space designed and built the communications payload featuring 26 active channels in C-band and wide band transponders over 10 spots in Ka-band.
Arabsat 5C has a launch mass of 4630 kg and a spacecraft power of 10kW at the end of its 15-year designed lifetime. Arabsat 5C, a multi-mission satellite, will provide satellite capacity in both C- and Ka-band frequencies at the Arabsat position 20 degrees East for a wide range of satellite communications services.
Earlier, in February 2009, Arabsat had signed contracts for the manufacturing and launching of two new satellites with a total cost of $590 million.
The Arab Satellite Communications Organisation (Arabsat) had signed the contracts for the two new satellites 5C & Arabsat Badr-7 with both EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space for manufacturing and Arianespace for launching .
Arabsat President & CEO Khalid Balkheyour, declared that with a design life exceeding 15 years, these two communications satellites will provide telecommunications and television broadcast services in the Middle East, Africa continent, Europe and the Indian subcontinent.
Arasbat Badr-7 will weigh about 4,380 kg at launch and will be positioned at 26 degrees East.
