Arabsat and Arianespace have signed an agreement to launch Arabsat's recently ordered BADR-6 satellite in 2008. The contract marks the 10th signed by Arianespace with customers from the Middle East and the sixth with Arabsat.
BADR-6 (technically, Arabsat-4AR) will be launched by an Ariane 5 during the first half of 2008 from the Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. A fourth-generation satellite, BADR-6 will be built jointly by EADS-Astrium and AlcatelAleniaSpace for the communications payload, based on the Eurostar 2000+ platform.
Weighing 3,400 kilograms (7,480 pounds) at launch, the satellite will be fitted with 24 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders with a design life of about 15 years.
BADR-6 is designed to primarily provide video broadcasting services for the entire Middle East and North Africa region from Arabsat's 26 degrees east longitude orbital location and by far the region's leading video neighborhood.
Co-located with the rest of the BADR constellation at Arabsat's hot spot for direct-to-home broadcast entertainment, the satellite will reach 130-million viewers from Morocco to the Persian Gulf and a large part of sub-Saharan Africa.
BADR-6 also will provide Arabsat with additional in-orbit back-up capacity for its core television and radio customers, as well as a significantly larger number of options for optimizing its telephony and data transmissions.
"Our partnership with Arianespace is not new, it dates back to five successful launches and we are proud to renew it with BADR-6 and hopefully many more successful launches," said Khalid Balkhyour, Arabsat's president and chief executive officer.
"We were impressed by their customer-oriented approach and the high professional level they've demonstrated during the negotiation, and are looking forward to the success of this important launch campaign for us as part of our extensive fleet renewal plans over the very coming years," Balkhyour added.
