Eutelsat Seeks To Use Chinese Rockets for Launch


Boosting Beijing's commercial ambitions in space, French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications Group SA has purchased precedent-setting insurance enabling it to use Chinese rockets for future launches, according to company and industry officials. Covering as many as nine satellites, the insurance package is the first time since the 1990s that China's Long March rocket has been designated to put a large telecommunications satellite into orbit for a mainstream Western operator.

Eutelsat maintains it has merely put in place an option for a single satellite launch by China in the 2010 timeframe, but industry officials said the company's long-term

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