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Ariane 5 Boosts Loral-Built Optus and Defence C1 Bird

By Staff Writer | June 13, 2003

      The Ariane 5 rocket lifted the Optus and Defence C1 communications satellite into orbit at 6:38 p.m. EDT June 11 from Arianespace‘s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. The combination civilian and military communications satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral, a unit of Loral Space and Communications [NYSE: LOR], under contract from Mitsubishi Electric Corp. [PS: MIELY] for Australian telecom provider Optus.

      The Optus and Defence C1 satellite carries a total of 16 antennas that will provide 18 beams across Australia, New Zealand, and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as global beams covering a large area from India to Hawaii. The communications payload operates in four frequency bands – commercial services at Ku-band, and military communications at UHF, X- and Ka-bands. It will operate from an orbital slot at 156 degrees East Longitude.