NSS-9 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 ...

owned 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 ...

. It is an all C-band satellite intended as a replacement for

NSS-5 NSS-5 (Formerly known as Intelsat 803 and NSS-803) is a communications satellite operated by Intelsat and after by SES World Skies. Launched in 1997 it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 50.5 degrees east for around 14 years ...

, and has three beams with 44 active C-band transponders. NSS-9 was built by

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

and launched February 12, 2009 aboard

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 ...

flight V-187. Built on the Orbital

STAR-2 The STAR-2 Bus is a fully redundant, flight-proven, spacecraft bus designed for geosynchronous missions. It is a satellite platform, designed and developed by Thomas van der Heyden for the Indonesian Cakrawarta satellite program in the early 19 ...

satellite bus, NSS-9 has an expected useful lifetime extending through 2024. Its launch has been featured in

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

's programme World's Toughest Fixes S02E02.

References

External links

* http://www.ses.com/4629118/nss-9 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2009 SES satellites Satellites using the GEOStar bus {{Netherlands-spacecraft-stub, nocat=yes