spacetoday.net: Orbital, SpaceX win Thaicom contracts

Posted: Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:36 AM ET (1136 GMT)
Falcon 9 launch of 1st Dragon spacecraft (NASA/KSC)

Orbital Sciences Corporation will build the latest spacecraft for a Thai company, and SpaceX will launch that satellite, in separate deals announced Monday. Orbital won a contract to build the Thaicom 6 satellite, based on the GEOStar bus. The satellite will carry a mix of C- and Ku-band transponders, with 3.7 kilowatts of power and a launch mass of 3,200 kilograms. That satellite will be launched by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket in the second quarter of 2013, under terms of a separate contract announced Monday. The launch contract is the first for SpaceX with an Asian customer, and SpaceX billed the contract as evidence that normally risk-averse satellite operators have growing confidence in the Falcon 9 rocket, which has launched successfully in both of its launch attempts last year.