(Kourou, French Guiana, August 11) On Friday evening, August 11, Arianespace placed two satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: the JCSAT-10 communications satellite for Japanese operator JSAT Corporation, and the Syracuse 3B military communications satellite for the French Ministry of Defense.

28th Ariane 5 launch, 14th success in a row

Today’s launch was the 28th mission for Ariane 5 and the 14th successful launch in a row, further proof that Arianespace sets the global standard for launch services, meeting the needs of operators around the world.

Today, Ariane 5 is the only commercial launcher in service capable of simultaneously launching two payloads and giving customers the performance, flexibility and competitiveness they expect.

Satellites for civil and military communications

Arianespace enjoys a long-standing relationship of mutual trust with JSAT Corporation, the leading private satellite operator in Japan, reaching back to 1989. JCSAT-10 is the sixth JSAT Corp. satellite to be contracted to Arianespace following JCSAT-1 in March 1989, JCSAT-5 in December 1997, N-SAT-110 in October 2000, JCSAT-8 in March 2002 and JCSAT-9 last April.

Arianespace has won 23 of the 32 commercial satellite launch contracts awarded in Japan.

Syracuse 3B is the 27th military payload entrusted to the European launcher. After launching Helios IIA in December 2004, Syracuse 3A in October 2005 and Spainsat in March 2006, Ariane 5 once again demonstrates its ability to handle a broad variety of missions, in particular government launches in support of European defense.

JCSAT-10/Syracuse 3B mission at a glance

The mission was carried out by an Ariane 5 ECA launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff was on Friday, August 11, at 7:15 pm local time in Kourou (6:15 pm in Washington, DC, 22:15 GMT, and on Saturday, August 12 at?:15 am in Paris and 7:15 am in Tokyo).

Provisional parameters at injection of the cryogenic upper stage (ESC-A) were:

Perigee: 249.7 km for a target of 249.6 km (+/-3) Apogee: 35,939.4 km. for a target of 35,941 km (+/-160) Inclination: 5.50 degrees for a target of 5.50 degrees (+/-0.06°)

JCSAT-10 was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and will be positioned at 128 degrees East. Weighing 4,048 kg at liftoff, it is fitted with 30 Ku-band transponders and 12 C-band transponders. JCSAT-10 will supply SKY PerfecTV, direct-to-home services in Japan and communications services for Japan, the Asia-Pacific region and Hawaii. The satellite’s design life is approximately 15 years.

Syracuse 3B is the second satellite in France’s third generation Syracuse III system, dedicated to secure military communications.

French defense procurement agency DGA (Délégation Générale pour l’Armement), part of the Ministry of Defense, is in charge of the program. Alcatel Alenia Space and Thales are co-prime contractors for Syracuse III. The Syracuse 3B satellite, weighing 3,750 kg at launch, was designed by Alcatel Alenia Space, which is in charge of the space segment, while Thales produced the ground segment and network stations.

Aaron Lewis
Director of Media and Government Relations
Arianespace, Inc.
601 13th St. NW 710 North
Washington D.C. 20005

+1 (202) 628-3936 (main)
+1 (202) 628-3949 (fax)