ICO GLOBAL Communications, an affiliate company of Inmarsat, has officially signed a $925 million contract with Hughes Space Communications International to supply and manage launch services for 12 ICO satellites to provide worldwide, hand-held telephone, mobile-communications services. Hughes is ICO's first strategic partner and owns a $94 million investment share.
The initial selection of launch vehicles to be used "...includes a mix of Lockheed Martin Atlas 2As, McDonnell Douglas Delta 3s, Russian Protons and Ukrainian Zenit boosters", says ICO. The Atlas 2A and the Proton are marketed jointly by the US/Russian ILS International Launch Services. Hughes has already reserved ten launches of HS-601 satellites on the Delta 3.
If selected, the Zenit launches will be provided by the Boeing-led Sea Launch organisation, which proposes launches from an offshore platform. Ukrainian launches, of the US satellites have been approved by, US President Bill Clinton.
The ICO satellites are also being built by Hughes, under a separate $1.4 billion contract, and will be based on the highly successful HS-601 spacecraft bus. The first will be launched in 1998, and the service is expected to be operational in 2000. The system will consist of ten operational spacecraft in two intermediate circular-orbit planes at 10,400km altitude. There are two spare craft for the system (Flight International, 4-10 October).
Norway's Telenor Satellite Services has awarded a contract to Hughes to supply an HS-376 high-power spin-stabilised satellite, called the Thor 2A, to be launched on a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 in 1997, to provide 15-Ku band services to Scandinavia. Telenor's first Thor satellite was another HS-376 purchased in orbit from the British Satellite Broadcasting Company.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has loaned $130 million to the ChinaSat telecommunications and broadcasting satellite company to purchase an HS-376 satellite from Hughes to become the ChinaSat 7. It will be launched by a Chinese Long, March 3 in 1996.
Source: Flight International
