New Skies Satellites N.V. (NEWskies) today announced the award of a contract for a geosynchronous satellite to Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems. The satellite, which will be known as NSS-7, will provide satellite communications to the Atlantic region.

New Skies Satellites N.V., based in The Hague, commenced operations in December 1998. The company operates five satellites that collectively provide complete global coverage at C-band and cover the majority of the world’s population centers at Ku-band.

NSS-7 will provide Ku- and C-band commercial telecommunications services, including video distribution and contribution, Internet access, corporate business networking and fixed services such as telephony and data. The satellite will be located at 338.5 East over the Atlantic Ocean, providing coverage to Europe, Africa and the Americas where it will replace the NSS-K and NSS-803 satellites.

Dan Ozley, Vice-President of Sales for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, signed the contract with RobertW. Ross, Chief Executive Officer of New Skies Satellites N.V. at a ceremony held at the International Broadcasting Convention today at 3:00 pm.

"NSS-7 is the first satellite we have ordered since the creation of NEWskies in December 1998” said Ross. “It will upgrade the performance of our primary Atlantic Ocean position, ensuring continuity of service for existing customers and enhanced power over critical markets. Deployment of this satellite will also allow us to re-deploy NSS-803 to the Pacific to replace our inclined orbit capacity there. Thanks to Lockheed Martin’s quick response and their ability to produce this satellite to tight delivery schedules, NEWskies will be able to upgrade its fleet to world-class competitive standards.”

"Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems is proud to have landed this year’s first truly competitive commercial satellite contract. New Skies presented us with a creative, challenging set of requirements. And, even leveraging our heritage of 800 launched and over 1100 years of on-orbit experience, it was a tough sell. We delivered the best value satellite package for design, schedule and performance. We are pleased to put our global resources to work for New Skies, the world’s newest global satellite operator,” said Ozley.

NSS-7 is a hybrid Ku- and C-band satellite based on the A2100 AX satellite bus. The satellite is planned for launch during the third quarter of 2001 and will be operated from NEWskies’ satellite operations center in The Hague.

NEWskies reports that the satellite provides an extensive and innovative C- and Ku-band communications capability. It offers multiple uplink and downlink coverages at C- and Ku-band, with a high level of interconnectivity between the coverages on a channel-by-channel basis. It is specifically designed to facilitate ‘asymmetric’ levels of traffic between regional uplink and downlink coverages tailored to current Internet traffic patterns. The added interconnectivity, asymmetric loading capability, and high downlink power levels will facilitate use of small receive systems by Internet Service Providers and other Internet users as well as more cost-effective and efficient data delivery services.

To address growing market concerns with the reliability of satellites, this A2100 AX satellite incorporates additional on-board redundancy for critical units. This minimizes the chances of operating with a single point of failure during the 12-year design life.

The A2100 satellite features a major reduction in parts count, simplified construction, increased on-orbit reliability and reduced weight and cost. The A2100 bus is produced entirely from composite materials, which makes it stronger and lighter than other bus designs and in turn reduces launch costs. The composite structure also protects the payload from thermal distortions, while the standardized interfaces enable the latest technologies to be incorporated.

Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems markets, designs and builds geostationary and non-geostationary telecommunications and remote sensing satellites for customers worldwide.

- ENDS -

Contacts
Steve Stott

+31 70 306 4177
sstott@newskiessat.com

Elizabeth Hess
+44 207 389 8135
+31 70 306 4133
ehess@newskiessat.com