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Telecom

Shortly before the retirement of Symphonie 2, the first Telecom spacecraft, Telecom 1A, was launched by an Ariane booster on 4 August 1984. Operated by France Telecom under government sponsorship, Telecom satellites service both civilian and military users through twelve active and five reserve transponders operating at 6/4 GHz (four transponders), 14/12GHz (six transponders), and 8/7 GHz (two transponders). The last units provide the Syracuse (Systeme de Radio Communications Utilisant un Satellite) secure military channels for the French Ministry of Defense (References 49-50).

Telecom 1 satellites were designed and manufactured by Matra with the communications package supplied by Alcatel Espace. At the start of its 7-year design life, each Telecom 1 had a mass of approximately 700 kg and an initial electrical power capacity of 1.2 kW, supplied by two narrow solar arrays with a total span of 16 m. The spacecraft bus was derived from the earlier ECS program in which Matra was a subcontractor to British Aerospace. A total of three Telecom 1 satellites were launched (1984, 1985, 1988). Only Telecom 1C remained operational at the end of 1994 and was stationed at 3 degrees E after being moved from 5 degrees W in the Fall of 1992.

The second generation Telecom spacecraft debuted on 16 December 1991 as Telecom 2A and was followed on 15 April 1992 by Telecom 2B. This new series of more capable spacecraft was designed and manufactured jointly by Matra Marconi and Alcatel Espace and is based on the Matra-British Aerospace Eurostar 2000 2.0 m x 2.1 m x 2.0 m satellite bus. On orbit mass of Telecom 2 is 1380 kg with a payload mass of 400 kg. The twin solar panels span 22 m and provide an excess of 3.6 kW with 2.5 kW available for the payload. The design life is 10.25 years.

The Telecom 2 communications package includes ten 6/4 GHz transponders with four spares for telephone and television relays, six 8/7 GHz transponders with three spares for the military Syracuse II payload, and 11 14/12 GHz transponders with four spares for television, data transmission, and teleconference. When completed the Telecom 2 constellation will be deployed at 8 degrees W, 5 degrees W, and 3 degrees E. At the end of 1994 Telecom 2A and 2B were stationed at 8 degrees W and 5 degrees W, respectively. The launch of Telecom 2C was scheduled for 1995 with Telecom 2D set to follow as early as the latter part of 1996. Studies for a proposed third generation Telecom series are underway (References 51-54).