December 6th, 2011 - China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) announced that it has signed the launch services contract with Thales Alenia Space (TAS) for Turkmenistan’s first National System of Satellite Communications (NSSC).
According to the contract, NSSC satellite, a TAS Spacebus 4000C based high power telecommunication satellite with a launch mass of over 4.5 tons, will be launched by Long March 3B launch vehicle (LM-3B) from Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC) in 2014.
“It is really an honour for us to launch the first Turkmenistan communications satellite into orbit. It is a very important project for our company. We greatly appreciate the trust of the Turkmenistan customer and our longtime partner TAS, “said Mr. Yin Liming, President of CGWIC.
The Long March 3B launch vehicle is developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (CASC). It is the most powerful launch vehicle for Geo-stationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) mission in the Long March series of launch vehicles.