The first Ariane 5 mission in 2017 has placed Sky Brasil-1 and Telkom 3S into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) during a mission lasting just under 40 minutes.
“Tonight’s Ariane 5 served two satellite operators with whom Arianespace enjoys strong relationships,” said Stéphane Israël, the chairman and CEO of Arianespace.
“Sky Brasil-1 is the 10th satellite launched by Arianespace for AT&T/DirecTV, representing 50 percent of all AT&T/DirecTV satellites in operation today, while all of Telkom Indonesia satellites in operation today have been launched by Arianespace.”
Israël noted that Sky Brasil-1 was the 116th satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space to be launched by Arianespace, with 17 more from the manufacturer in Arianespace’s backlog.
Telkom 3S was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, and it marked the 146th spacecraft produced by the company to be orbited by Arianespace, which has nine more in its backlog.
At 27 minutes into Flight VA235, Ariane 5 deployed Sky Brasil-1 from the launcher’s upper payload position. Developed for utilization by AT&T/DirecTV via its DirecTV Latin America subsidiary, Sky Brasil-1 will expand direct-to-home high-definition programming for Brazil. The spacecraft was produced in Toulouse, France using Airbus Defence and Space’s Eurostar E3000 platform, and will operate from an orbital slot of 43.1 degrees West.
Telkom 3S was in the Ariane 5’s lower payload position, and was produced by at Toulouse and Cannes, France, based on Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus 4000B2 platform. Designed for the delivery of high-definition television services, as well as mobile communications and Internet applications for Telkom Indonesia, Telkom 3S will provide coverage over Indonesia and Southeast Asia from an orbital location of 118 degrees East.
