February 18, 2020 – Arianespace successfully launched two satellites using an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America): JCSAT-17 for the Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, and GEO-KOMPSAT-2B for the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). JCSAT-17, built by Lockheed Martin Space, will offer flexible broadband communications services to users in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. Its payload includes S-, C- and Ku-band transponders. The S and C-band transponders will be used by NTT DOCOMO, Inc., the largest telecommunications company in Japan. With the support of SKY Perfect JSAT, NTT DOCOMO will offer flexible mobile communications services in Japan and surrounding areas, based on an indefeasible right of use (IRU) contract. GEO-KOMPSAT-2B is the third KARI satellite to be launched by Arianespace, following the multi-mission COMS (Communication, Ocean, Meteorological Satellite) in 2010 and GEO-KOMPSAT-2A in 2018 – both orbited by Ariane 5. GEO-KOMPSAT-2B has two main payloads: GOCI II (Geostationary Ocean Color Image), supplied by Airbus Defence and Space; and GEMS (Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer), supplied by Ball Aerospace & Technologies. GEO-KOMPSAT-2 is a South Korean government program to develop and operate two geostationary satellites for civil applications: GEO-KOMPSAT-2A for meteorology and space environment monitoring missions; and GEO-KOMPSAT-2B, for environmental monitoring of both land and oceans. The GEO-KOMPSAT-2 program is a follow-up to the COMS (Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite) program.