SES-1 is a geostationary

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 Ear ...

which is operated by SES World Skies, then by

SES S.A. SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish-French satellite telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and insti ...

History

It was originally ordered by

SES Americom SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator of North American geosynchronous satellites based in the United States. The company started as RCA Americom in 1975 before being bought by General Electric in 1986 and then later acquired by ...

as a

ground spare Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical ...

for AMC-5R, however in April 2008 a decision was made to launch it, and it was named AMC-1R. It was subsequently renamed AMC-4R, and finally SES-1 after SES Americom merged with SES New Skies to form SES World Skies. It was the third SES World Skies satellite to be launched following the merger, but the first to carry the new SES designation. SES-1 operates in geostationary orbit, and is intended to be located at a

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

of 101° West, where it will replace the

AMC-2 GE-2, called AMC-2 after 2001, is a privately owned American communications satellite launched in 1997. It was the first of the GE series to be launched outside the United States. It was launched by an Ariane 44L on 30 January 1997 at 22:04:00 ...

and AMC-4 satellites, and be used broadcast

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 ...

very small aperture terminal A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 kbit/s up to 16 ...

s in the United States.

Spacecraft

SES-1 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 ...

(OSC), and is based on the

Star-2.4 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 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- ...

. It is equipped with 24 C-band, and 24

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 In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight tran ...

, and at launch it had a mass of . It has a design life of fifteen years, however it was launched with enough fuel to operate for at least sixteen years, if its systems are still functional.

Launch

The launch of SES-1 was conducted 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 i ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

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 on ...

upper stage. The launch occurred from Site 200/39 at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome ''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur'' , image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg , caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's " Gagarin's Start" Soyu ...

, at 11:19:00 UTC on 24 April 2010. The launch successfully placed SES-1 into a

subsynchronous orbit A subsynchronous orbit is an orbit of a satellite that is nearer the planet than it would be if it were in synchronous orbit, i.e. the orbital period is less than the sidereal day of the planet. Technical considerations An Earth satellite that is ...

close to geostationary altitude.

Mission

In May and June 2010, SES-1 was positioned close to 131° West to temporarily provide backup to the AMC-11 satellite in the event that AMC-11 could not continue broadcasting whilst it is moved out of the way of the failed Galaxy 15 satellite, which passed close to it at the end of May 2010. In the end, services provided by AMC-11 were not interrupted.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2010 Spacecraft launched in 2010 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit SES satellites Satellites using the GEOStar bus Satellites of Luxembourg

History

Spacecraft

Launch

Mission

See also

References