Financial Instruments, Derivative Instruments And Hedging (Details) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Jun. 30, 2012 Japanese Yen [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Japanese Yen [Member] JPY (¥)	Jun. 30, 2012 Euros [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 Euros [Member] EUR (€)
Schedule of Unhedged Foreign Currency Transactions
Future revenues denominated in foreign currencies not hedged	$ 168	¥ 13,386	$ 21,898	€ 17,283
Future expenditures denominated in foreign currencies not hedged	$ 38,535	¥ 3,076,810	$ 2,175	€ 1,717

Future expenditures denominated in foreign currency contracts that were unhedged as of the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

Name:	lorl_FutureExpenditureUnhedgedForeignCurrencyContracts
Namespace Prefix:	lorl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant