The third Ariane 5 mission in 2010 successfully launched a pair of Thales Alenia Space-produced satellites: Nilesat 201 and Rascom-QAF1R on Wednesday, August 4.
Nilesat 201 will be utilised by Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat to deliver digital Direct-to-Home TV and
radio broadcasting – along with high-speed data transmission services – to North Africa and the Middle East.
Rascom-QAF1R will ensure service continuity for its operator, RascomStar-QAF, providing African access to advanced communications and information technologies – in particular rural telephony.
“This was the 38th consecutive launch success for Ariane 5,” said Arianespace chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall in comments after the flight in a statement. “Since the start of 2010, we already have launched six large
telecommunications satellites – which, I want to underscore – is more than all our competitors combined.”
Le Gall also detailed the company’s two new launch contracts: GSAT 10 for the Indian Space Research Organization and Intelsat-20 for Intelsat.
