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Successful launch of Thor 6 telecommunication satellite built by Thales Alenia Space

30 October 2009

Cannes, October 29, 2009 – The Thor 6 satellite, of Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecommunication provider Telenor, has been successfully launched from Kourou, in French Guyana, by Arianespace with an Ariane 5 rocket. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor of the spacecraft which will deliver service over Nordics and Central European regions from 1 degree West Longitude orbital location.

Based on Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000 B2 platform, Thor 6 has a launch mass of 3,050 kg at launch and is fitted with 36 Ku-band transponders. This 6 kW bird will provide high power Direct-To-Home (DTH) television broadcasting services over Europe during a minimum of 15 years lifetime. It will replace Thor 3, which is set to retire in 2010, and also provide additional transponder capacity.

Emmanuel Grave, Executive Vice President of Telecommunication of Thales Alenia Space, commented: “Thor 6 is the first Telenor satellite built by a European company. Thales Alenia Space is particularly proud to contribute to Telenor’s successes with Thor 6 as the most powerful satellite of its fleet. I’m delighted that the excellent teamwork and trust between the people of our customer Telenor and Thales has culminated in this fantastic milestone and sincerely hope It will pave the way for a long and fruitful collaboration between Thales Alenia Space and Telenor for many years to come”.

About Thales Alenia Space
European leader in satellite systems and a major player in orbital infrastructures, Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%). Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio embody the two groups’ “Space Alliance”. Thales Alenia Space sets the global standard in solutions for space telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. The company, which achieved revenues of Euro 2 billion in 2008, has a total of 7,200 employees located in 11 industrial sites in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
www.thalesaleniaspace.com

Thales Alenia Space Press Contacts
Florence Pontieux - Tel: +33 (0)1 57 77 91 26 - florence.pontieux@thalesaleniaspace.com
Sandrine Bielecki- Tel: +33 (0)4 92 92 70 94 - sandrine.bielecki@thalesaleniaspace.com