The Spacebus 3000 was introduced around the time the Ariane 5 entered service.
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Several variants have been built: the early Spacebus 100 and Spacebus 300; followed by the Spacebus 2000, optimised for launch on the Ariane 4 carrier rocket; and the subsequent modular Spacebus 3000 and 4000 series, designed for use with the Ariane 5 rocket.
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Stentor was lost in a launch failure on the maiden flight of the Ariane 5ECA.
Spacebus |
Development of the new satellite, made in cooperation between the two large European satellite manufacturers, take into account the best lessons learned from previous incarnations of similar satellites: the Spacebus and Eurostar families, respectively from Thales Alenia Space and EADS Astrium Satellites.
According to the in-orbit delivery contract signed in early 2011, Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) of Japan is constructing the satellite's base Spacebus MELCO DS2000, and the American-Russian joint-venture company International Launch Services (ILS) will provide the launch of the spacecraft atop a Russian Proton-M space launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan scheduled on February 10,2014.
According to the in-orbit delivery contract signed in early 2011, Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) of Japan is in charge of the construction of the satellite's base Spacebus MELCO DS2000, and the American-Russian joint-venture company International Launch Services (ILS) will provide the launch of the spacecraft atop a Russian Proton-M space launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan scheduled in late 2014.