PARIS — Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) will build the IS-34 C- and Ku-band telecommunications satellite for Intelsat under a contract both companies announced July 23.
The IS-34 satellite will operate at 304.5 degrees east, replacing the Intelsat 805 and Galaxy 11 spacecraft at that slot.
To be launched in 2015, IS-34 will fill the capacity gap left following the Feb. 1 failure of a Sea Launch rocket carrying the IS-27 spacecraft. The satellite will serve Latin American broadcast customers and will have beams covering the North Atlantic air and sea routes.
Luxembourg- and Washington-based Intelsat has said it would order a satellite in the place of IS-27 but without the UHF-band payload aboard IS-27 that Intelsat had been unable to sell to its intended customer, the U.S. Department of Defense.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based SS/L said IS-34 would be equipped with SPT-100 electric propulsion units to perform station-keeping functions once the satellite has reached final geostationary position.
