On April 18, 2010 is the 10th anniversary of the launch of the SESAT telecommunications satellite manufactured by the ISS-Reshetnev Company for the satellite operator Eutelsat.

The contract for the manufacture of the SESAT spacecraft signed with the authoritative international organization in 1995 set a precedent in Russia, as it was the first foreign order for the turn-key supply of a communications satellite to meet European standards.

To implement the SESAT project, ISS-Reshetnev acted in close cooperation with leading Russian and foreign companies. ISS was responsible for the design, manufacture and testing of the satellite bus and thermal control components for the payload module. The company also performed overall assembly and testing operations, manufactured the ground control segment and provided training services for the customer. Alcatel Space (now Thales Alenia Space) was responsible for the payload module. As well as Thales Alenia Space, there was another French company engaged in the project. It was Sodern that supplied high-performance earth sensors for the SESAT satellite.

SESAT is designed to provide communication, digital TV broadcasting, data relaying and Internet services in Europe, the Middle East, Eastern and Central Siberia. Thus, the geography of the service area encompasses Italy, Poland, Germany, Azerbaijan, Israel, Macedonia, Austria, Morocco, Turkey and many other countries. According to Nikolai Testoedov, general designer and director general of ISS-Reshetnev, the SESAT satellite embodies the best national and foreign technologies. It combines different approaches and different satellite building philosophies. Thanks to the success of the project the Reshetnev Company got reliable partners and pioneered the Russian-European integration process in the field of satellite manufacturing.

The launch of the SESAT spacecraft was an important milestone in the history of the “Academician M.F. Reshetnev “Information Satellite Systems” Company as well as the entire Russian space industry. It was the first Russian satellite built to operate for as long as 10 years. The SESAT design served as the basis for the Express-AM series of satellites that today form the core of the Russian orbital telecommunications constellation