WASHINGTON, January 15. /ITAR-TASS/. International Launch Services (ILS), a leading commercial launch service provider, in 2015 will place into orbit one of two new satellites of Intelsat - the world’s largest consortium of satellite communication, using Russia’s Proton carrier rocket, ILS spokeswoman Karen Monaghan said on Tuesday.

The first satellite, Intelsat DLA-2, also known as Intelsat 31, will be launched by ILS Proton in 2015 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan utilizing the vehicle’s Phase IV performance capability. A high power satellite, Intelsat DLA-2 is currently under construction by SSL of Palo Alto California, based on the flight proven 1300 platform. The 6 metric ton satellite will provide in orbit protection services for the DIRECTV Latin America Direct-to-Home (DTH) television platform, a leading DTH digital television services operator in Latin America. This will be the 11th ILS Proton launch for Intelsat and the 5th mission to support DIRECTV. The second Intelsat satellite launch assignment awarded to ILS will be announced in the future.

The Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Centre - one of the key Russian companies in the aerospace industry - owns the controlling stake in ILS. The Proton rockets made by the Khrunichev Centre have been used for launching satellites into orbit about 400 times.