Countdown to Launch: Intelsat 17 Arrives in French Guiana

We are busy executing the final launch preparations for the launch of our Intelsat 17 satellite. After verification tests at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana are completed, the Intelsat 17 satellite will be fueled and then mated to the Ariane 5 launch vehicle for its launch that is slated for 25 November.

Once in orbit, Intelsat 17 will be positioned at 66º E, effectively next to our successful Asian video distribution neighborhood located at 68.5º E, on the Intelsat 10 satellite, which has been serving our customers since 2001.

Intelsat 17’s C- and Ku-band capacity, and multi-continental coverage will offer programmers distribution in a region that extends across Asia and into Europe and Africa. It will replace Intelsat 702, which was launched in June 1994, and has been serving our customers for more than 16 years.

Intelsat 17 Ships to Launch Base
The Intelsat 17 satellite recently completed construction ahead of schedule at Space Systems/Loral and was shipped to us here, in French Guiana, on 24 October. Its journey began when it was installed in the Centaurus environmentally-controlled shipping container at SS/L’s high bay in Palo Alto, CA, and trucked to the nearby airfield at Moffet Field, where it was loaded onto an Antonov An-124. From there, the spacecraft, handling dolly and all the necessary test racks and mechanical support equipment were loaded for the flight to South America.

A 21st Century Facility in the Middle of a Jungle
Twelve hours later, the plane landed at Rochambeau airport near Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, where the Cantaurus container was unloaded and trucked about 50 miles to the processing facility at the launch base, the Centre Spatial Guyanais(CSG), near Kourou. This facility is where Arianespace launches its Ariane 5 rockets.

As we drove to CSG, we were surrounded by dense jungle on both sides and, regardless of how many time we visit this spaceport, it is impressive to see how the jungle has been tamed to make way for the hi-tech launch facilities here. At the entrance to the base, there is a large, open-framed, steel globe that always is a welcomed site. Our colleague Jon Harborne, who is the senior manager of the IS-17 spacecraft program, is pictured here at the entrance to the CSG launch base. Around the globe you can see the various flags flying, representing the member states of the European Space Agency. In the background you can see a full-scale model of an Ariane 5 rocket, and the Jupiter control center, which also houses the CSG Space Museum.