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Satnews Daily
May 12th, 2014

Thales Alenia Space + KT Sat—The Build To Fill 116 degrees East + 113 degrees East (Satellites—Manufacture)


[SatNews] Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Korean satellite service operator KT Sat, subsidiary of KT Corporation, to build two telecommunications satellites, Koreasat-7 and Koreasat-5A—the two satellites will provide Internet access, multimedia, broadcasting and fixed communications services.


Artistic renditions of the KoreaSat 7 and 5A satellites.
Image courtesy of Thales Alenia Space.

As program prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space is in charge of the design, production, testing and On Ground Delivery (OGD) of the satellites and will also take charge of the launch campaigns, the launch and early operations phase (LEOP)  as well as in-orbit tests (IOT).

Built on the Upgraded Spacebus 4000B2 platform from Thales Alenia Space, Koreasat-7 will be fitted with Ku- and Ka-band transponders. Koreasat-5A will carry Ku-band transponders. Koreasat-7's coverage zone encompasses Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and India, while Koreasat-5A will cover Korea, Japan, Indochina and the Middle East. Each satellite will weigh about 3,500kg at launch and will offer payload power of about 7kW. Koreasat-7 will be positioned at 116 degrees East and Koreasat-5A at 113 degrees East.

"I would like to express my warm thanks to KT Sat for choosing us to build these two new telecommunications satellites," said Jean-Loïc Galle, President and CEO of Thales Alenia Space. "KT Sat is a long-standing customer, for whom we already built the Koreasat-5 and Koreasat-6 satellites. Through this new contract, we are delighted to support the development of large-scale space programs in South Korea, and in Asia in general."

The Thales Alenia Space infosite is located at https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space

The KT Sat infosite may be accessed at http://www.ktsat.net/