RSCC's Express-AM6 Satellite Successfully Launched
Baikonour, Kazakhstan, October 21, 2014--the Russian communications and broadcasting satellite Express-AM6 was launched into orbit today by a Proton-M rocket booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 19.09 (Moscow time). The new Express-AM6 heavy-class space vehicle will be deployed into geostationary orbit at 53 ° East, from where it will provide coverage of European Russia, the Urals and Western Siberia as well as the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
The Express-AM6 spacecraft was commissioned by the Russian Satellite Communications Company and built by Reshetnev ISS (Information Satellite Systems) of Russia in association with Canadian-based MDA and the Russian NIIR (Radio Research and Development Institute). The satellite is based on the Express-2000 satellite platform and is equipped to carry 72 C-, Ku-, Ka- and L- bands transponders with a combined capacity of more than 2,700 MHz. The vehicle service life is 15 years.
The Express-AM6 has been built based in consideration of the domestic market outlook for satellite communications and broadcasting services as set out in the Federal Target Program 'Development of TV and Radio Broadcasting in the Russian Federation for 2009-2015' under the Federal Space Program of Russia until 2015 according to RSCC. The satellite will provide additional infrastructure to make multi-program digital television and radio broadcasting services, including HD television, accessible to the Russia's western regions. The AM6 space vehicle is also designed to furnish mobile presidential and governmental communications, broadband Internet and multi-service access capabilities (digital TV, telephony, video conferencing and data transmission) as well as to set up VSAT communications networks in European Russia, the Urals and Western Siberia.
The Express-AM6 satellite is expected to be commissioned at 53°East in the first quarter of 2015 after completion of requisite flight tests and inspection of all on-board systems.
“It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that the launch of the Express-AM6 is one ofthe most anticipated events of the year in the satellite industry. With the new satellite in action, the overarching task of broadcasting nationwide television programs from Kaliningrad to Irkutsk will be addressed," said General Director of RSCC Yuri Prokhorov.
Related Articles:
