For Immediate Release
For More Information Contact:
Barron Beneski (703) 406-5528
Public and Investor Relations
beneski.barron@orbital.com
ORBITAL-BUILT INTELSAT 18 COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES IN-ORBIT TESTING
-- Satellite Operations Turned Over to Intelsat for Commercial Service --
(Dulles, VA 15 November 2011) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world's leading space technology companies, announced today that the Intelsat 18 satellite has completed its in-orbit testing and has been handed over to the customer, Intelsat S.A. Intelsat 18 is to be operated at 180 degrees East longitude, where it will provide C-band communications services to eastern Asia, the Pacific and the western United States, and Ku-band communications services to French Polynesia, New Caledonia, eastern Australia and the United States. Intelsat 18 was launched aboard a Zenit rocket from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in early October. A team of Intelsat and Orbital engineers have since conducted several weeks of orbit raising and testing operations to prepare the spacecraft for commercial service.
Mr. Christopher Richmond, Orbital's Senior Vice President of its Space Systems Group, said, "We are very pleased with how smoothly the post-launch operations of Intelsat 18 proceeded. We have now turned over full operational control of the satellite to Intelsat and stand ready to support their operations over the next 15 years. We are also continuing production and testing of Intelsat 23, the tenth Orbital-built satellite that will join the Intelsat fleet in 2012."
Orbital designed, built and tested the Intelsat 18 satellite at Orbital's satellite manufacturing and test facility in Dulles, VA. It carries a hybrid C- and Ku-band payload.
Orbital's highly successful communications satellites are based its GEOStar(TM) satellite platform, which is able to accommodate all types of commercial communications payloads. The GEOStar design is optimized for satellite missions requiring up to 7.5 kilowatts of payload power. In most instances, the affordable GEOStar satellite can be built and delivered in about 24 months.
About Intelsat
Intelsat is the leading provider of satellite services worldwide. For over 45 years, Intelsat has been delivering information and entertainment for many of the world's leading media and network companies, multinational corporations, Internet Service Providers and governmental agencies. Intelsat's satellite, teleport and fiber infrastructure is unmatched in the industry, setting the standard for transmissions of video, data and voice services. From the globalization of content and the proliferation of HD, to the expansion of cellular networks and broadband access, with Intelsat, advanced communications anywhere in the world are closer, by far.
About Orbital
Orbital develops and manufactures small- and medium-class rockets and space systems for commercial, military and civil government customers. The company's primary products are satellites and launch vehicles, including low-Earth orbit, geosynchronous-Earth orbit and planetary exploration spacecraft for communications, remote sensing, scientific and defense missions; human-rated space systems for Earth-orbit, lunar and other missions; ground- and air-launched rockets that deliver satellites into orbit; and missile defense systems that are used as interceptor and target vehicles. Orbital also provides satellite subsystems and space-related technical services to U.S. Government agencies and laboratories.
More information about Orbital can be found at http://www.orbital.com
# # #
Note to editors: A high-resolution photograph of the Intelsat 18 satellite in Orbital's Dulles, VA manufacturing facility is available at: http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/ImagesMultimedia/Images/SatelliteSpaceSystems/index.shtml