August 18, 2015

Next Ariane 5 mission set to orbit EUTELSAT 8 West B and Intelsat 34

Thursday 20 August, Ariane 5 will lift off from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, to place two new telecommunications satellites into orbit: Eutelsat 8 West B for Eutelsat Communications and Intelsat 34 for Intelsat. This will be Ariane 5’s fourth launch this year and its 81st flight in all.

With a launch mass of 5.8 tonnes, Eutelsat 8 West B (E8WB) is a telecommunications satellite built by Thales Alenia Space (TAS) for Eutelsat. It will deliver high-definition and ultra-high-definition direct-to-home (DTH) television services to North Africa and the Middle East, and telecommunications services to Africa and eastern South America. It has an expected service lifetime of 15 years.

With a launch mass of 3.3 tonnes, Intelsat 34 (IS-34) is a telecommunications satellite built by Space Systems Loral (SSL) for Intelsat. It will deliver high-speed connectivity solutions for the media and for landline and mobile broadband, as well as for business, government and military applications. IS-34 will notably serve media customers in Latin America and will host a large Brazilian direct-to-home (DTH) platform. It will also provide infrastructure to cover the mobile communications requirements of maritime and aviation professionals operating in the North Atlantic. It has an expected service lifetime of 15 years.

The launch of Ariane 5 will be broadcast live on
ariane.cnes.fr/live via the Dailymotion video platform

Check out the Guiana Space Centre launch-campaign photos
in the CNES Flickr Gallery

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Contacts
Pascale Bresson    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Alain Delrieu    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 74 04    alain.delrieu@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37    julien.watelet@cnes.fr

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