Nimiq-5 is a Canadian
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 ...
, operated by
Telesat Canada
Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa.
History
Telesat began as Telesat Canada, a Canadian Crown corporation created by an Act of Parl ...
as part of its
Nimiq
The Nimiq satellites are a Canadian fleet of geostationary telecommunications satellites owned by Telesat and used by satellite television providers including Bell Satellite TV and EchoStar ( Dish Network). 'Nimiq' is an Inuit word used for an ...
fleet of satellites.
It is positioned in
geostationary orbit at a longitude of 72.7° West of the
Greenwich Meridian.
As of July 2015,
EchoStar Corporation
EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. EchoStar is based out of unincorporated Arap ...
leases the satellite's entire capacity to provide
high-definition television
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 ...
direct-to-home broadcasting for
Dish Network Corporation
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
.
When accessed using a multi-satellite receiver such as the
VIP722k and a multi-satellite dish/
LNB combo, such as the Dish-300, Dish-500, or Dish-Turbo 1000.4, the satellite is (incorrectly) referred to by the on-screen diagnostics as Echostar 72 W.
Spacecraft
Nimiq-5 was built by
Space Systems/Loral
SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies.
SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cus ...
, and is based on the
LS-1300 satellite bus
A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held.
Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...
.
The contract to build it was announced on 4 January 2007.
At launch, it will have a mass of ,
and is expected to operate for fifteen years. It carries 32
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 ...
transponders frequency designation system.
Launch
Nimiq-5 was launched by
International Launch Services
International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) is a joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Angara and Proton rocket launch services. Proton launches take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan while Angara is l ...
(ILS), using a
Proton-M
The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...
launch vehicle with a
Briz-M
The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M (russian: Бриз-К, КM and M meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket orbit insertion upper stages manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used ...
upper stage, under a contract signed in April 2007.
The launch was conducted from
Site 200/39 at the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, at 19:19:19
UTC on 17 September 2009. The Briz-M separated from the Proton-M nine minutes and forty one seconds into the flight and subsequently made five burns before releasing Nimiq-5 into 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 ...
nine hours and fifteen minutes after liftoff.
See also
*
2009 in spaceflight
Several significant events in spaceflight occurred in 2009, including Iran conducting its first indigenous orbital launch, the first Swiss satellite being launched and New Zealand launching its first sounding rocket. The H-IIB and Naro-1 rocke ...
References
{{Canadian Space Agency
Spacecraft launched in 2009
Satellites using the SSL 1300 bus