(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Europe's Arianespace will shuttle a communications satellite for broadband satellite equipment provider Hughes Network Systems into space from its launch pad in French Guiana.
The launch from Arianespace's hub in the French South American department was projected for August 2007. Hughes' Spaceway 3 satellite will join the company's broadband satellite network that will provide multimedia services throughout North America, according to a joint statement.
The satellite will be the world's first to switch and route broadband traffic on board, 'eliminating the requirement for traffic to be routed through a central hub Earth station,' the Germantown, Maryland-based Hughes said in another statement.
'With the launch of Spaceway 3, Hughes will enter a new era as a satellite system operator, augmenting our market leadership in delivering broadband satellite services worldwide,' said Pradman Kaul, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.
The satellite was built by Boeing Satellites Systems, Inc., and it will weigh about 6,000 kilograms at liftoff.
Arianespace, the commercial arm of the 13-country European Space Agency, has shuttled 242 satellites into orbit since the space consortium was created in 1980.
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