Arianespace's first launch of the year will boost two satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: Arabsat 3A for the Arab League, and for the British Ministry of Defence.
Liftoff of the Ariane 44L, the version of the European launcher with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters, is scheduled at earliest from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on the night of February 26-27
between 22H44 and 00H21 GMT (23:44 pm and 1:21 am in Paris; 7:44 pm and 9:21 pm in Kourou and 5:44pm and 7:21 pm in Washington).
Arabsat 3A will provide direct TV broadcast, telephony, fax and data transmission services, with coverage extending to southern Europe, in addition to the Arabsat satellites' traditional coverage zone. Prime contractor Alcatel assembled, integrated and tested the Arabsat 3A satellite at its Toulouse and Cannes sites (France).
Arabsat 2A was launched on Arianespace Flight 89 in July 1996, while Arabsat 2B was lofted by Arianespace Flight 92 in November of that same year.
Built by Matra Marconi Space in Stevenage (Great Britain), Skynet 4E will provide strategic and tactical communications services for the armed forces of the United Kingdom.
Skynet 4B and Skynet 4C were launched by Arianespace in December 1988 and August 1990 on flights 27 and 38, respectively.
Arianespace will use an Ariane 44L, the version of the European launcher equipped with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters.
ArabSat-3A is the start of a new generation of satellites for ArabSat that will provide broadcast direct television along with telecommunication services to 22 Arab League nations. It follows on from the ArabSat 1 and 2 programs.
The Arabsat satellite telecommunications organization, created more than 20 years ago, now groups 22 Arab League countries. With this third satellite, its telecommunications and television broadcasting capability will be significantly strengthened by Alcatel which is offering a 12 year operations guarantee and a faultless manoeuvrability guarantee for 15 years. The launch guarantee provides for an identical satellite to be delivered within a 10 month period in case of launch failure or a second satellite at attactive pricing.
