Paris, July 22, 2003 - Alcatel Space signed a 15 million euro contract with the French space agency CNES today, covering the third and final part of the Corot program. Corot encompasses the development and construction of a space observatory satellite intended to study stars and detect new planets. The total program value is 35 million euros.

The Corot satellite will be based on the Proteus platform, one of five ordered by CNES last summer to be used for scientific missions. Alcatel Space previously signed a contract for the Corotel spaceborne telescope. Today's contract covers engineering services, plus satellite integration and testing.

CNES's Corot mission is a world's first. Its primary aim is to study internal structure of stars, using a method known as astroseismology (study of star oscillation and pulsation, which indirectly allows characterization of the interior). Corot is a dedicated astronomy mission. Operating for three years, it will study the internal structures of thousands of stars to determine their mass, age and composition. This is of course a key to understanding our universe. The various chemical elements making up the universe are formed in stars at different stages of their evolution. Corot will use very-high-precision stellar photometry methods to measure the changes in the luminous flux received from stars over a long period of time (150 days).

The second objective of the Corot mission is the detection of planets outside the solar system, based on measurements of changes in the luminous intensity received. Scientists believe they will be able to detect 10 to 40 medium-sized planets, similar to those in the solar system. These planets will be candidates for further exploration, since their size and chemical composition could be compatible with the presence of water. It is the task of Corot to demonstrate the existence of these planets, to determine how many there are and the environments that facilitate development. At the same time, Corot could also help discover dozens of new gaseous giants, rounding out current discoveries.

Corot will be placed into an inertial polar orbit at an altitude of about 850 kilometers. The satellite's attitude will also be inertial, with its line-of-sight remaining constant for an observation period of up to five months. The complete mission will offer at least five complete observation periods, totaling two and a half years. A Rocket launch is planned for in 2006.

The Corot satellite will be built on the standard Proteus platform, a multimission low-orbit platform developed and built by Alcatel Space, and validated in flight by the Jason 1 oceanographic satellite. Launched in December 2001, Jason 1 has delivered excellent mission and satellite performance in service. The Corotel afocal telescope supplied by Alcatel Space reflects the company's long experience on the Helios observation program, in particular the telescopic stability requirements for this mission. Corotel is a "self-baffled" instrument, enabling it to shield all signals outside the field of view. It will weigh about 150 kilograms, be 3 meters high and has a 270 mm entrance pupil.

This contract continues the collaboration between Alcatel Space and CNES, begun in 1996 with initial development of the Proteus platform. Corot is the first extrasolar exploration mission for this platform.

"Corot is a fundamental mission for European astronomy," emphasizes Yannick d'Escatha, President of CNES. " Rising to the major challenge of exploring our universe, CNES is delighted to offer researchers a satellite whose instruments will drive considerable progress in the study of stars and detection of extrasolar planets. It is vital that both France and Europe participate in the race to discover the underlying principles behind the universe, based on this experiment, the first of its type anywhere in the world."