SES Astra commissions Sirius 4.
Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB) has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to design and manufacture the SIRIUS 4 satellite. NSAB is 75%-owned by SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) and 25%-owned by SSC (Swedish Space Corporation). Terms of the contract remain confidential.
SIRIUS 4 will be a multi-mission Ku/Ka-band satellite to be built on Lockheed Martin's reliable A2100AX platform with a minimum service life of 15 years. The spacecraft will be designed to be compatible with all flight-proven commercial launch vehicles and NSAB intends to select the respective launch service provider later on in the year. The satellite will be deployed at NSAB's orbital position of 5° East in the second quarter of 2007.
Multi-mission European and African coverage
The first mission of SIRIUS 4 will be to provide replacement capacity for NSAB's existing SIRIUS 2 and SIRIUS 3 satellites in the Nordic and Baltic markets as well as to enhance coverage in Eastern Europe and Russia. This mission is supported by 46 active Ku-band transponders in the BSS and FSS frequency bands.
As a second mission SIRIUS 4 will provide one wide beam Ka-Band transponder for interactive applications in Scandinavia and the Baltic States.
The third mission of SIRIUS 4 will be to provide a sub-Saharan Africa beam complementing existing (ASTRA 2B) or upcoming (ASTRA 4A) African coverage within the SES GLOBAL fleet. This mission will be supported by a payload consisting of 6 active Ku-Band transponders and an additional Ka-Band transponder for inter-connections between Africa and Europe.
Comments Per Norman, General Manager of NSAB: "The procurement of the state-of-the-art Sirius 4 satellite gives NSAB's existing customers long-term planning security and positions the Company to capture new growth opportunities in emerging markets in Europe, Russia and the Ukraine. With Sirius 4's African beam complementing existing or planned coverage of Africa within the SES GLOBAL fleet, the spacecraft is furthermore another example of fruitful synergies between SES GLOBAL Operating and Partner companies."
Ted Gavrilis, President of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, stated: "We are extremely gratified that yet another operator within the SES GLOBAL Group has turned to Lockheed Martin to provide a powerful, reliable satellite designed to fulfill all mission requirements. By leveraging our experience on ASTRA-1KR/1L and other programs, we are able to provide our customer with confidence that SIRIUS 4 will be delivered on schedule while meeting the stringent quality requirements demanded of the industry and demonstrated by the A2100 platform."
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