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Arianespace & JSAT Culminate Contract For JCSAT-12

Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Kiyoshi Isozaki, President and CEO of JSAT Corporation, signed a launch Service & Solutions contract for the JCSAT-12 satellite. This is the 24th Japanese contract for Arianespace. JCSAT-12 is the seventh satellite to be contracted by Arianespace for the company, following the original JCSAT-1, then JCSAT-5 in 1997, JCSAT-110 in 2000, JCSAT-8 in 2002, JCSAT-9 and JCSAT-10 in 2006. The company has acquired a total of 33 commercial contracts in this competitive market.

JCSAT-12 will be launched from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. The liftoff is expected during the summer of 2009. The satellite will offer services for Japan, the Asia-Pacific region, and Hawaii. The Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems built JCSAT-12 is designed with a 15-year on-orbit life span and will backup other JSAT satellites—France
Ariane 5 rocket
The Ariane 5 ECA is a follow-on to the highly mature Ariane 5 Generic launcher version, which carries 6,700 kg payloads to GTO and has demo’d its reliability in 16 successful missions.