Hellas Sat3 heads to French Guyana for launch

Hellas Sat3 heads to French Guyana for launch The Hellas Sat 3/IS satellite was shipped on board a purpose-fitted Antonov cargo plane and headed on a 17-hour flight from Nice to French Guyana for its launch.

The launch campaign will begin by Arianespace and Thales Alenia Space and prepped to be placed on board the French launcher Ariane 5 for launch on June 28.

Bertrand Maureau, Vice President of the manufacturer Arianespace said that the Hellas Sat3 is the fourth satellite to be delivered by the company for launch from French Guyana this year and will be the fourteenth launch so far this year.

Hellas Sat Chief Executive Christodoulos Protopapas thanked Arabsat, as well as the Cyprus and Greek governments for their support in the project, as well as marine telecom provider Inmarsat in co-developing the satellite. The Hellas Sat3/IS will be one of the biggest made in Europe based on the TAS 4000 C4 platform, weighing 5.8 tonnes and an output of 16kW. The satellite’s two main missions will be to enhance the Hellas Sat operations with the 47 Ku transmitters and for aviation communications to be used by passengers on board flights over the European Union.