Italsat 1

Mission

Italsat 1

• Type: Communications
• Orbit: Geostationary Orbit

Italy’s first operational communications satellite was launched 15 January 1991 by an Ariane-44L H10 booster. Developed by a contractor team led by Alenia Spazio, Italsat carries ten active transponders plus five spares for 30/20 GHz and 50/40 GHz links with a capacity of 12,000 telephone circuits.

Location

Ariane Launch Area 2

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 2 has witnessed the launch of 119 rockets, including 119 orbital launch attempts, while Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana, has been the site for 320 rocket launches.

Rocket

Aérospatiale Ariane 44L

The Ariane 4 was an expendable space launch system, developed by the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.

Agency

Arianespace

Arianespace SA is a multinational company founded in 1980 as the world’s first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane programme. Their vehicles launch exclusively from French Guiana in South America.