ATHENS — ASTRIUM has signed a contract with the Hellas-Sat
Consortium for the supply of Greece’s first satellite. Due for
launch in Spring 2003, Hellas-Sat will provide television and
telecommunications services for the Olympic Games in Athens in
2004.

For Antoine Bouvier, CEO of Astrium, "this contract demonstrates
the flexibility of Astrium and its ability to adapt to the needs
of its customers. It is also proof of the unquestionable
reliability of our Eurostar product which has been ordered by
nearly a dozen of the world’s leading satellite operators. We
are extremely pleased to be working for a new, dynamic customer,
and we heartily applaud the symbolic link that Greece has made
between the Olympic Games and the space age."

Thirty three Eurostar spacecraft have been ordered to date, of
which 22 have already been launched and have proved highly
reliable in operational service.

For Mr. Lefteris Antonacopoulos, Chairman and CEO of OTE, the
Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, "It is a leap forward
made jointly with our Cypriot partners. This project widens our
horizons placing Greece among those countries with a presence
in space. The Hellenic satellite secures the TV broadcast of
the Athens 2004 Olympic Games worldwide, while representing the
main channel of communication between Greeks abroad with Greece
and Cyprus. Moreover, it enables the provision of a broad array
of services (for example satellite Internet etc.). Especially
for OTE it gives the possibility to provide telecom
infrastructure in Greece and to enhance its position in those
countries where it is already present".

The high-power Hellas-Sat spacecraft is a Eurostar E2000+ model
equipped with 30 active FSS transponders operating in Ku-band,
allowing the transmission of digital TV direct to home receive
antennas as small as 60 cm. It will have a launch mass of
3250 kg and an end-of-life power of 7.6 kW. Located at 39 deg
East two deployable antennas will provide Pan European coverage,
including Greece, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, while two
steerable beams can be moved to cover South Africa and the
Middle East.

Five companies are part of the Hellas-Sat Consortium: the Cypriot
Company Avacom Net, the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization,
the Cyprus Bank of Development, the Hellenic Aerospace Industry
and Canada’s Telesat.

ASTRIUM is a joint venture, currently owned 75% by EADS, European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and 25% by BAE SYSTEMS. In
2001 Astrium had a turnover of 1.9 billion Euros with 8,400
employees in France, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain. Astrium
refocuses on its satellite business activities covering civil
and military telecommunications and Earth observation, science
and navigation programmes, avionics and equipments.

TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HELLAS-SAT

Spacecraft Dimensions

Height: 4.9m

Width: 1.7m

Lenght: 2.5m

Solar Array Span: 32 m

Launch mass: 3250 kg

DC Power / End of life: 7500 W

Lifetime: 15 years

Orbital position: 39 deg East

Payload

Payload Power: 5600 W

Frequency bands: 13.75-14.5 GHz uplink, 10.95-12.75 GHz downlink

Number of channels: 30 (each channel can broadcast several
digital television programmes)

Channel Bandwidth: 36 MHz

HPA RF Output power: 105 W

Transmit Antennas: Two deployable 2.5 m antennas and two steerable
antennas