Arianespace today performed its sixth successful Ariane 5 mission of 2007, orbiting another dual-satellite payload and reinforcing its position as the world's leading commercial launch services company. Lifting off from Europe's Spaceport, the Ariane 5 GS vehicle deployed its RASCOM-QAF1 and Horizons-2 satellites during a 32-minute-long flight. With this latest success, Arianespace has launched 80 percent of the satellites placed in geostationary transfer orbit during 2007 - a new industry record. For tonight's flight, RASCOM-QAF1 was deployed first, being released by Ariane 5 at 28 minutes into the mission. RASCOM-QAF1 is the first pan-African telecommunications satellite, and was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space as part of a turnkey contract with RASCOMSTAR-QAF. The 3,200-kg. satellite's 12 Ku-band and eight C-band transponders will provide telecommunications, direct TV broadcast and Internet access services during an operating lifetime of 15 years. Horizons-2 was deployed by Ariane 5 approximately 32 minutes after the liftoff of tonight's mission. This 2,300-kg. satellite was produced by U.S.-based Orbital Sciences Corporation, and is to be operated by the Horizons 2 Satellite LLC joint venture of Intelsat and Japan's JSAT. Equipped with 20 Ku-band transponders. Horizons-2 will meet the growing demand for telecommunications, HDTV and IP-based content distribution in North America. Its broadcast footprint covers the continental United States, the Caribbean and parts of Canada.GTD is responsible for computer systems in the Launch Pad and in the Guyana Space Center and employs over 35 engineers permanently operating from Kourou (French Guayana).
