International Launch Services (ILS) and Telesat announced Tuesday they are teaming up for the fifth time, to launch the Nimiq 4 satellite on a Proton Breeze M vehicle. Financial terms were not disclosed.
ILS, a Lockheed Martin joint venture, is scheduled to launch the satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2008. The Nimiq 4 spacecraft is a Eurostar E3000 model built by EADS Astrium, similar to Telesat's Anik F1R satellite launched on a Proton vehicle in September 2005, and the Anik F3 spacecraft set for a Proton launch this year. ILS also launched Nimiq 1 in 1999 and Nimiq 2 in 2002 on Proton vehicles.
"We appreciate Telesat selecting ILS for another mission only four months after its last launch," said ILS President Mark Albrecht. "We thank Telesat for its continued confidence, because we know how important the Nimiq and Anik satellites are to their growing business."
The Proton vehicle, built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Russia, has carried out more than 300 missions for the Russian government and commercial customers over 40 years. The rocket has a reliability record of 96 percent, and 100 percent with the Breeze M upper stage.
"When Telesat chooses a launch partner, we look for the same things our customers expect from us: quality, reliability and attention to detail," said Larry Boisvert, Telesat's president and CEO. "Nimiq 4 is Telesat's 18th satellite, and it will play a key role in our growth strategy. A successful launch is the first step - and ILS' track record speaks for itself."
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