Bethesda, MD, April 11, 2000
SkyBridge LP and Starsem announced today that they have signed an agreement under
which Starsem becomes equity partner and launch service provider for the SkyBridge
constellation.
SkyBridge will provide telecom operators and service providers,
as from 2003, with broadband capacities, enabling them to offer
business and residential users access to high-speed, highly
interactive multimedia services anywhere in the world via an 80
low Earth orbiting satellite constellation.
Alcatel, prime contractor for the in-orbit delivery of the SkyBridge constellation, has
contracted Starsem to launch 32 SkyBridge satellites on 11 Soyuz/ST-Fregat launch
vehicles, each able to carry three satellites, beginning in 2002. Also included in the contract
are options for additional launch services as required by SkyBridge.
“It is a new momentum in the cooperation between Alcatel Space and the Russian space
industry in the field of telecommunication satellites”, said Jean-Claude Husson, President and
CEO of Alcatel Space Industries. “And we intend to go a step further”, he added.
Starsem and its European and Russian partners will manage all tasks associated with launch
services on Soyuz vehicles from development of a customized SkyBridge satellite dispenser
to final satellite separation.
“Starsem has provided us with a very competitive proposal. In addition, Starsem has an
extensive constellations launch experience with the reliable Soyuz vehicles”, commented
Pascale Sourisse, President and CEO of SkyBridge LP. “Together with Boeing and its Delta
rockets family, we will have a very capable and flexible combination of launchers to meet our
program needs” she added.
“Starsem is very proud of its association with SkyBridge and Alcatel, which manage one of
the most exciting high technology project worldwide”, said Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and
CEO of Starsem. “This new contract confirms our company as a key player in launch
services for low orbit satellites including constellations, scientific and Earth observation
missions.”
Starsem, whose shareholders are Aerospatiale Matra (35%), Arianespace (15%), the
Russian Aeronautics and Space Agency (25%) and the Samara Space Center (25%), is
responsible for commercializing and providing launch services with the Soyuz family of
launchers. In 1999, Starsem launched in ten months twenty-four satellites, i.e. 50% of the
Globalstar constellation and in 2000, Starsem already qualified with two successful flights the
Fregat upper stage which will be used for the deployment of the SkyBridge satellites.
This new contract strengthens the Starsem’s order book which includes the Cluster II and
Mars Express scientific missions for the European Space Agency as well as maintenance
missions for the Globalstar constellation.
