EADS SPACE launches in summer 2006

On 28 July, a Rockot launch vehicle took off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia carrying on-board the Korean optical Earth observation satellite KOMPSAT-2 which it placed into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. Rockot is operated by Eurockot Launch Services, a joint venture in which EADS SPACE holds 51%, offering launches of Earth observation, scientific and communication satellites into low Earth orbits, and Earth escape missions for space exploration. KOMPSAT-2 is an export collaboration between EADS SPACE and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

During the night of 11–12 August, taking off from the European Spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana), an Ariane 5 ECA placed a dual payload of two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: the Japanese commercial communications satellite JCSAT 10 and the French military communications satellite Syracuse 3B. EADS SPACE is single prime contractor for Ariane 5 launchers, responsible for delivery to Arianespace of a fully integrated and tested launch vehicle out of the Launcher Integration Building (BIL) in French Guiana and co-ordinates the entirety of the associated technical and contractual relationships with subcontractors throughout Europe.

The EADS SPACE-primed communications satellite HOT BIRD 8 for operator Eutelsat was launched on 4 August, and is successfully deployed in orbit. With a capacity almost three times that of the previous-generation HOT BIRD satellites, HOT BIRD 8 is the most powerful satellite ever built in Europe and the most powerful satellite ever ordered by a European operator.