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Alcatel Space, France
December 18, 2002

High-resolution imaging for French Observation program
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Paris, December 18, 2002 - Alcatel Space today announced that it has
delivered to Astrium the first flight model of the Helios II
High-Resolution (HR) instrument for integration on the Helios IIA 
satellite in Toulouse, slated for launch in late 2004.

This very high-resolution imaging instrument will be used for the 
Earth observation mission of the Helios II defense program. The Helios 
II program is the second-generation observation system following on 
from the defense and security services provided by the Helios I 
program. The system comprises two satellites: Helios IIA and Helios 
IIB, in Sun-synchronous orbit. French arms procurement agency DGA was 
designated by the French, Belgian and Spanish defense ministries to 
conduct the program, while French space agency CNES is the system 
prime contractor. Astrium is prime contractor for the two satellites. 
As the lead supplier, Alcatel Space will deliver the key HR 
instrument, along with other system components.

Alcatel Space has already supplied the two imaging systems currently 
in orbit on the Helios 1A and Helios 1B satellites.

This second-generation HR instrument offers significantly higher
performance than its predecessor:

· Enhanced image quality, especially through the very high-resolution
version; · An infrared channel for full day/night detection 
capability.

Delivery of the HR instrument confirms Alcatel Space's leadership in 
the European high-resolution optical and radar imaging instrument 
market.  Furthermore, the advanced image acquisition technology 
developed by Alcatel Space has now amply proven its capabilities in 
orbit. For example, the Meris medium-resolution ocean color 
hyperspectral sensor and the ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) 
on the Envisat spacecraft provide images considered by the 
international scientific community to be of remarkably high quality. 
The Poseidon 2 altimeter onboard the Jason 1 oceanographic satellite 
delivers vital ocean surveillance data on a daily basis.

About Alcatel Space Alcatel Space is worldwide number 3 and European 
leader in satellites. With civil and military application know-how, 
Alcatel Space develops satellite solutions for telecommunications, 
navigation, radar and optical observation, meteorology, and sciences. 
The company is also the leading European prime contractor of earth 
observation, meteorology and navigation segments, and for operating 
space systems. A 100% subsidiary of Alcatel, Alcatel Space had a 
turnover of 1.4 billion euros in 2001. For further information: 
http://www.alcatel.com/space.

About Alcatel
Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) designs, develops and builds
innovative, competitive communications networks used by operators, 
service providers and companies to provide all content (voice, data or 
multimedia) to all customers throughout the world. Using the complete 
portfolio of solutions ranging from optical infrastructures to fixed 
and mobile networks and broadband access, Alcatel customers can devote 
themselves to optimizing their service offers and sources of revenue. 
With a turnover of 25 billion euros in 2001, Alcatel is present in 
more than 130 countries.

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