Echostar 12 (E*12), also known as Cablevision-1 and Rainbow-1, is a commercial

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth ...

geosynchronous A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

Earth orbit. It was launched on 17 July 2003, as Rainbow-1, on the third flight of the

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Mart ...

rocket from Cape Canaveral,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Its original purpose was to transmit

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

streams for the ill-fated

Voom Voom HD Networks is a suite of 25 original high-definition television channels owned by AMC Networks. The channels were produced in Crystal Clear Hi-Definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and were the largest suite of HD channels in t ...

high definition

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

network. Part of the A2100 series of commercial satellites, Rainbow-1 was constructed by the Lockheed Martin corporation at an approximate cost of $100 million USD, although this amount has not been verified. It is solar powered, has an approximate

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

of (launch vehicle mass ), and is capable of transmitting on the C- and K_u bands. EchoStar ( Dish Network spin off) now owns the satellite (as it carried Voom HD Networks). The satellite was renamed Echostar 12 (or E*12) in March 2006. EchoStar 12 is still in orbit and located at 61.5 degrees West longitude, over the Earth's Equator. It is currently being used for Dish Network

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

television signals, transmitted using

DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...

, on the K_u band transponders. The satellite has lost some capability due to degradation of its solar power system.P. deSelding, "Solar Array Power Failure Limits Use of EchoStar 12 Satellite," ''Space News'' 8/31/2009, page 32.
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References

Lockheed Martin satellites and probes Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites using the A2100 bus E12 Spacecraft launched in 2003 {{US-spacecraft-stub