Contacts:
Nicholas Braden
WorldSpace Corporation
+202-969-6161
nbraden@worldspace.com
Judith Pryor
WorldSpace Corporation
+202-969-6261
jpryor@worldspace.com
Philippines and Thailand
Kourou, French Guiana (21 March, 2000) – WorldSpace’s second satellite
was launched successfully today, bringing the company another step
closer to its goal of providing high-quality digital audio programming
services to the emerging and underserved markets of the world.
The AsiaStar spacecraft lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana aboard
an Ariane 5 commercial launcher. AsiaStar was placed in a highly
accurate transfer orbit, and the satellite will reach its final
geostationary orbital position at 105 degrees East in early April.
“We are thrilled to have witnessed today the successful launch of
AsiaStar, the second in a constellation of three satellites that will
form the backbone of our business,” said Noah A. Samara, Chairman and
CEO of WorldSpace Corporation. “The spectacular success of this
launch means that AsiaStar will soon begin providing high-quality
news, education and entertainment to the people of Asia at an
affordable cost.”
WorldSpace currently has over 30 content providers broadcasting on its
AfriStar satellite, which covers Africa and the Middle East. Similar
services are expected for AsiaStar.
AsiaStar is the second of three satellites in the WorldSpace business
plan. All three are built by prime contractor Alcatel Space and
launched by Arianespace. The AsiaStar spacecraft will cover most of
Asia, including China, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.
AsiaStar is to provide 50+ channels of crystal clear digital audio and
multimedia programming directly to portable receivers containing small
built-in 4-inch dish antennas. The L-band receivers have been
designed and mass-produced expressly for the WorldSpace system by
Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic) and Sanyo.
In-orbit checkout of AsiaStar will be completed by June 2000, when
commercial operations are expected to begin.
AsiaStar will be controlled from the WorldSpace regional operations
center at WorldSpace’s Melbourne, Australia offices.
WorldSpace Corporation
Headquartered in Washington, DC, the WorldSpace business was founded
in 1990 to provide direct satellite delivery of digital audio
communications and multimedia services to the emerging and underserved
markets of the world, including Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin
America, and the Caribbean. The WorldSpace satellite network will
consist of three geostationary satellites. Each satellite will have
three beams with each beam capable of delivering more than 50 channels
of crystal clear audio and multimedia programming directly to
transportable receivers. This unique global service will transmit
quality information, education and entertainment programming to a
service area that includes 4.6 billion people.
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