Intelsat 11 is fueled at Europe's Spaceport for Arianespace's late September

The Intelsat 11 telecommunications satellite has been fueled at the Spaceport in French Guiana as payload preparations continue apace for Arianespace's upcoming dual-passenger Ariane 5 mission.

Intelsat 11 was "topped off" in the S5A high-bay of the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation building. This Orbital Sciences Corporation-built satellite has a liquid bi-propellant transfer orbit system and a hydrazine monopropellant on-orbit system.

Intelsat 11 will be launched at the end of September by an Ariane 5 GS vehicle, with another Orbital Sciences Corporation-manufactured spacecraft – Optus D2 – as its co-passenger.

Once in orbit, Intelsat 11 will provide direct-to-home broadcasting and data networking services for Intelsat. Its C-band payload will serve the continental United States, Mexico and South America, and a Ku-band payload will service the DirecTV Latin America downlink coverage area of Brazil. The Ku-band payload also will have uplink capability from the continental United States, Mexico, Europe, and Northwest and Southeast South America.

The Ariane 5 mission later this month will be Arianespace's fourth in 2007 with the workhorse launcher. A total of six flights are targeted this year as Arianespace builds up the Ariane 5 launch pace.

Source: Arianespace

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