NSS-806 (New Skies Satellite 806), before Intelsat 806, is a

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. C ...

originally operated by

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...

. Launched in 1998 it was operated in

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

at a longitude of 47 degrees west for around 15 years. It is currently located in the orbital position of 47.5 degrees west longitude, was initially operated by

, orbited at 40.5 degrees west, and was purchased by

SES World Skies SES World Skies was a short lived company formed as a result of the merger between the two SES subsidiaries, ''SES Americom'' and ''SES New Skies''. The company was merged into its parent company, SES S.A. in 2011. History SES Americom SE ...

(a subsidiary of

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES S.A., ...

Satellite

NSS-806 is equipped with 28

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

s in C band and 3 in

Ku band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

, making transmissions for the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and parts of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In order to receive the signal it requires a monofocal antenna (LNBF antenna in the center), a

LNBF A low-noise block downconverter (LNB) is the receiving device mounted on satellite dishes used for satellite TV reception, which collects the radio waves from the dish and converts them to a signal which is sent through a cable to the receiver ...

for C band (5150

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) and a digital receiver compatible with C band. The NSS-806 emits its signal in circular polarization.

Launch

The launch of NSS-806 made use of an

Atlas II Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. The Atlas II was a direct evolution of the Atlas I, featuring longer first stage tanks, higher-performing engines ...

rocket flying from

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The launch took place at 00:16 UTC on February 28, 1998, with the spacecraft entering a

geosynchronous transfer orbit A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step f ...

. NSS-806 subsequently fired its apogee motor to achieve

Health and replacement

In July 2017, seven years past its 12-year intended design life, NSS-806 lost the use of 12 of its 39 transponders. NSS-806's replacement,

SES-14 SES-14 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by SES S.A. at 47.5° West, replaces NSS-806, and designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. The satellite launched on 25 January 2018 at 22:20 UTC along with the Global ...

, was scheduled to be launched in first quarter of 2018 on a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...

, and SES predicted that the transponder failure would result in a revenue loss of between 7 and 9 million euros. The following month, SES arranged to swap flights so that SES-12 would launch in January 2018 on an

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads int ...

, with

SES-12 SES-12 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by SES S.A. Satellite description SES-12 was designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. It has a mass of and has a design life of at least 15 years. Launch SES-12 wa ...

, originally scheduled for that flight, now launching on the Falcon 9 later in Q1. SES-14 was launched from

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

on 25 January 2018, but was placed in an incorrect orbit due to a launch vehicle anomaly. SES reported that the all-electric SES-14 would take four more weeks than originally planned to reach its operating orbit, but that the satellite was healthy and was expected to meet its designed life time. SES-14's in-service date, originally set for July 2018, was expected to be pushed back until at least August 2018.

Technical details

References

Intelsat satellites SES satellites Spacecraft launched in 1998 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit {{US-spacecraft-stub