Argentina’s ARSAT-2 telecommunications satellite has landed in French Guiana for Arianespace’s September Ariane 5 mission, continuing the “parade” of spacecraft being orbited during the company’s busy 2015 launch schedule.
After touching down yesterday at Félix Eboué Airport near Cayenne aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo jetliner, ARSAT-2’s protective shipping container was unloaded for transfer by road to the Spaceport.
ARSAT-2 is the second of three geostationary satellites to be designed, built and operated with the goal of increasing Argentina’s telecommunications capacity and guaranteeing the same level of connectivity quality to all of its regions. Arianespace orbited the first of these relay platforms, ARSAT-1, on an Ariane 5 mission last October.
The ARSAT spacecraft are produced by Argentina’s INVAP, with Europe’s Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space as leading equipment suppliers.
Operation of these satellites is the responsibility of ARSAT, which has a strategic role in implementing governmental policies in Argentinian telecommunications, broadcasting and Internet – as well as to increase broadcasting, telecommunications and satellite-based services for commercial, public, private and government-run applications.
ARSAT-2 will be orbited by Ariane 5 on Arianespace’s September mission – designated VA226 in the company’s launcher family numbering system – along with the NBN Co 1A telecommunications satellite for Australia’s National Broadband Network.
