TIM FURNISS
During the build-up to the show this week, Alcatel Space reported that is has beaten Lockheed Martin - and Boeing, Loral Space and Communications and Astrium - in the bid to win one of the few communications satellite construction contracts around this year.
The KT Corporation, South Korea's largest fixed-line telephone and Internet service provider, has awarded the French company a $148.5 million contract to build Koreasat 5, the country's first civil-military communications satellite.
Based on a new generation Spacebus 4000 platform, the craft will feature 36 C, Ku and SHF band transponders - based on French Syracuse 3 systems for advanced broadband multimedia and digital TV transmissions and military communications.
Lockheed Martin built the first three Koreasats. There is no Koreasat 4 as Koreans consider the number unlucky.
Source: Flight Daily News
