Arianespace was contracted to launch two satellites for longtime customer Intelsat. The first launch will carry the Galaxy 30 satellite together with the Orbital ATK Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV- 2) as a stacked pair. Under the contract, Arianespace will also launch an additional satellite for Intelsat in the second half of 2020. Arianespace will launch the first pair of satellites, Intelsat’s Galaxy 30 satellite and the MEV-2, in early 2020 from Europe’s Spaceport in South America aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Galaxy 30 will be the first replacement satellite for the North American Galaxy Fleet and in addition to its C-band payload, Galaxy 30 will include Ku- and Ka-band payloads to support broadband applications in North America. The launch of Galaxy 30 demonstrates Intelsat’s commitment to its distribution neighborhoods, which has an unmatched penetration of cable headends in the US. Galaxy 30 is based on Orbital ATK’s GEOStar-2 satellite platform.
The MEV-2 satellite is owned by Orbital ATK’s Space Logistics subsidiary. Intelsat will be the first customer of the MEV-2. The MEV-2 provides life-extending services by taking over the orbit maintenance and attitude control functions of a client’s spacecraft.