Posted: Thu, May 7, 2009, 7:14 AM ET (1114 GMT)
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced late Tuesday that it has won a contract to build a communications satellite for Asian operator AsiaSat that will serve as a backup to another spacecraft already in development. SS/L will build the AsiaSat 5C spacecraft as a backup to AsiaSat 5, which SS/L built and is scheduled for launch in the third quarter of 2009, should that spacecraft be lost in a launch failure. AsiaSat 5C will be based on SS/L's 1300 bus and be "nearly identical" to Asiasat 5.

Related Links:

•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  SS/Loral press release