Arianespace maintained its commercial launch services leadership in 2006, with the U.S. marketplace representing a key component of the payloads launched and new contracts signed.

The company’s workhorse Ariane 5 launched a total of 10 telecommunications satellites this year – more than all the competitors combined – of which 7 were built by U.S. manufacturers, and 3 were orbited for American-based operators.

Arianespace’s order book was further strengthened with the 12 new payloads it signed in 2006, one of which is for a new U.S. customer and another for an Asian satellite to be manufactured in America.

“The United States has played an important role in Arianespace’s business and operations from its origins, and I am pleased this marketplace continues to rely on us for its commercial launch services needs,” said Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall. “U.S. telecommunications operators and satellite manufacturers understand the importance of quality, and they look to service providers that deliver on their promises.”

Four of the U.S.-built payloads orbited on Ariane 5 in 2006 were built by Palo Alto, California-based Space Systems/Loral: DIRECTV 9S for U.S. digital TV service provider DIRECTV; Satmex 6 for Mexico’s Satelites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V.; SPAINSAT for Spain’s HISDESAT; and WildBlue 1 for U.S. broadband Internet provider WildBlue Communications.

Ariane 5 also lofted the Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems-built AMC-18 satellite for SES Americom in the U.S. and Japan’s JCSAT-10 for the JSAT Corporation (these spacecraft were produced in the satellite manufacturer’s California and Pennsylvania facilities), while Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation manufactured Optus D1, which was orbited by Ariane 5 for Australia’s Optus.

These seven satellites will provide a full range of telecommunications relay capacity for their operators, including pioneering Ka-band broadband Internet connectivity, direct-to-home television, cable head-end video delivery and secure government communications. All were injected into highly accurate geostationary transfer orbits by Ariane 5. Their combined payload mass totaled more than 28,000 kg.

Arianespace welcomed a new U.S. operator to its worldwide customer base in 2006, signing a contract with TerreStar Networks Inc. to orbit this emerging North American mobile communications provider’s TerreStar-1 satellite. The massive TerreStar-1 platform currently is under construction by Space Systems/Loral and will offer up to 500 spotbeams in a next-generation integrated mobile satellite and terrestrial communications network. TerreStar Networks’ contract with Arianespace also includes options for two additional Ariane 5 launch vehicles, which TerreStar may assign to affiliates for operations in Europe or elsewhere.

Another contract inked by Arianespace in 2006 was for the first Vietnamese telecommunications satellite, VINASAT-1, which will be built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems for the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation.

Adding to Arianespace’s U.S.-related successes in 2006 was the October 19 launch of a Soyuz-ST vehicle operated by Arianespace affiliate Starsem. This improved version of the Soyuz orbited the European MetOp-A satellite for the Eumetsat Polar System, which is a cooperative program with the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense Polar Orbit Environmental Satellite System (POES).

A final Soyuz mission for 2006 is planned on December 27 with the Corot astronomical satellite for France’s CNES national space agency. Corot is based on the common Proteus platform developed through a U.S-French cooperation with CNES and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Proteus spacecraft bus was recently selected by NASA to be part of its Rapid Spacecraft Development Office catalog.