PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) today announced that Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA, and John Celli, President of Space Systems/Loral, met on July 29 to discuss commercial space industry capabilities and continuing job creation. Ms. Garver toured SS/L's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, Calif., where satellites for direct-to-home television (DTH), consumer broadband, and satellite radio are regularly designed, built and launched into space in two to three years from start to finish.
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NASA continues to partner with companies such as Space Systems/Loral to help strengthen U.S. leadership in space while at the same time stimulating job growth in careers related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Space Systems/Loral, the world's leading provider of commercial satellites, is currently working with NASA Ames to provide the propulsion system for the Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft. The propulsion system is based on a space-proven SS/L design that has been reconfigured to take a small spacecraft to the moon.
When launched, NASA's LADEE spacecraft will study the moon's thin atmosphere and dust above the lunar surface. The propulsion system and structure that is being built by SS/L is a variant of the mission critical system used over many years on SS/L's geostationary satellites. There are currently 65 SS/L-built satellites orbiting Earth, and the company has logged more than 1,750 satellite years on orbit.
"The commercial satellite manufacturing industry is strong and over the past five years SS/L has created approximately 1,900 new engineering, manufacturing and support jobs," said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. "It takes about one million labor hours to produce the type of large geostationary satellite that we build here in Palo Alto. We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to show our very busy facility to Ms. Garver and to discuss potential areas where we can help support NASA in meeting its goals."
In addition to its work on LADEE, SS/L has a long history of working with NASA. SS/L was the provider of high-power batteries and power control equipment to the International Space Station and has provided the U.S. Government with a variety of space instruments including antennas on the Viking, Voyager and Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft and microwave ranging systems for the GRACE and GRAIL satellites. SS/L also provided five weather satellites built under contract to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and launched between 1994 and 2001. These Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) provided double their contracted lifespan and two of the SS/L-built satellites are still in use for critical meteorological monitoring functions.
About Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (Nasdaq:LORL), has a long history of delivering reliable satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers around the world. As the world's leading provider of commercial satellites, the company works closely with satellite operators to provide spacecraft for a broad range of services including television and radio distribution, digital audio radio, broadband Internet, and mobile communications. Billions of people around the world depend on SS/L satellites every day. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com.
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About Loral Space & Communications
Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. Through its Space Systems/Loral subsidiary, the company is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government applications including direct-to-home television, broadband communications, wireless telephony, weather monitoring, and air traffic management. Loral also owns 64 percent of Telesat, one of the world's largest providers of satellite services. Telesat operates a fleet of telecommunications satellites used to broadcast video entertainment programming, distribute direct-to-home video and broadband data services, and other value-added communications services. For more information, visit Loral's Web site at www.loral.com. LORL-G
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "believes," "expects," "plans," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "anticipates," "estimates," "project," "intend" or "outlook" or other variations of these words or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. In addition, Loral Space & Communications Inc., Space Systems/Loral, Inc. or their representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing, which may be included in, but are not limited to, various filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and press releases or oral statements made with the approval of an authorized executive officer of the company. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results as a result of certain risks and uncertainties which are described as "Risk Factors" and in the "Commitments and Contingencies" note to the financial statements in Loral's 2010 annual report on Form 10-K filed March 15, 2011. The reader is specifically referred to this document, as well as the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to (1) risks associated with financial factors, including swings in the global financial markets, financial covenants in SS/L's credit agreement, increases in interest rates and access to capital; (2) risks associated with satellite manufacturing, including competition, cyclicality of SS/L's end-user markets, contractual risks, creditworthiness of customers, performance of suppliers and management of our factory and personnel; (3) regulatory risks, such as the effect of U.S. export control and economic sanction laws; and (4) other risks, including litigation. The foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive. Furthermore, Loral and SS/L operate in an industry sector where securities values may be volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond the control of Loral and SS/L.
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