Orbital Returns TELKOM-2 Satellite To Manufacturing Facility Repairs

SPACEMART

Orbital completed production of the TELKOM-2 satellite in November 2004. The satellite was shipped to French Guiana at the end of May 2005 for a launch that was scheduled in late June. Following its arrival at the Kourou launch site, a problem in the spacecraft's power subsystem was discovered during pre-launch testing.

Dulles Va (SPX) Jun 13, 2005
Orbital Sciences announced that the TELKOM-2 communications satellite will arrive back at the company's Dulles, Virginia satellite manufacturing facility later this week. The satellite will undergo evaluation and tests to determine the root cause of a power supply anomaly that was detected while being prepared for launch in Kourou, French Guiana.

The decision to return the satellite to Orbital's facility was made in agreement with the satellite program's customer, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (PT TELKOM).

"As with all important decisions in our business, the decision to return the TELKOM-2 satellite to the Dulles manufacturing facility was made with high product quality standards as our first priority," said Dr. Ali Atia, President of Orbital Communications International, Orbital's communications satellite business unit.

"While this action will result in additional work to be performed on the satellite and a delay in its launch, these concerns are secondary to delivering a highly reliable satellite for our customer."

Orbital judged that returning TELKOM-2 to the Dulles facility would be the best course of action in order to identify the root cause of the problem, perform corrective actions and thoroughly re-test the spacecraft. Orbital made this decision solely from a standpoint of achieving the highest quality satellite.

Orbital is preparing to launch two other communication satellites later this year for PanAmSat Corporation. The Galaxy-14 satellite is currently scheduled for launch aboard a Soyuz rocket in the third quarter and Galaxy-15 is also slated for a third quarter launch aboard an Ariane-5 rocket. These launch dates are not expected to be affected by the TELKOM-2 activities.

SPACEMART

Space Systems/Loral Delivers World's Largest Satellite To Launch Base

Palo Alto CA (SPX) Jun 09, 2005
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has announced that the iPSTAR-1 satellite has arrived at the Arianespace spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and is undergoing preparations for launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on July 7. Weighing in with a launch weight of 14,341 pounds (6505 kilograms), iPSTAR-1 will be the heaviest commercial satellite ever delivered to geosynchronous orbit.

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