Arianespace will launch Arabsat’s BADR-6 satellite in 2008

[Analoguesat]

As part of its upcoming fleet renewal and expansion program for the next 3 years, Satcom operator Arabsat has selected Arianespace for the launch of its recently ordered BADR-6 satellite in 2008. BADR-6 (technically, Arabsat-4AR) will be launched by an Ariane 5 during the first half of 2008, from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

BADR-6, a fourth-generation satellite, will be built jointly by EADS-Astrium and AlcatelAleniaSpace for the communications payload, based on the Eurostar 2000+ platform. Weighing 3,400 kg at launch, the satellite will be fitted with 24 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders with a design life of about 15 years. BADR-6 is designed to primarily provide video broadcasting services for the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from Arabsat’s 26° East geostationary orbital location. Co-located with the rest of the BADR constellation of satellites at Arabsat’s “hot-spot” for Direct-to-Home broadcast entertainment, it will be reaching an audience of 130 Million viewers from Morocco to the Gulf and a large part of sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, BADR-6 will also provide Arabsat with additional in-orbit back-up capacity for its core television and radio customers, as well as a significantly larger number of options for optimizing its telephony and data transmissions.

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