AMC-16 Satellite Good to Go for December 16 Launch

[Chris Blount]

November 17, 2004 07:00 AM US Eastern Timezone

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 2004--
Second Ku/Ka-band Spacecraft for AMERICOM2Home(R) Customer EchoStar

The AMERICOM-16 (AMC-16) satellite of SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL Company (Euronext Paris, Luxembourg and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges: SESG), has been delivered to Cape Canaveral to prepare it for its scheduled ATLAS V launch on December 16, 2004. The A2100AX model spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin and is being launched by International Launch Services (ILS) for service at the 85 degrees West longitude orbital position. The hybrid Ku-band/Ka-band satellite will support advanced video and broadband services for EchoStar Communications Corp.

AMC-16 will feature the second operating Ka-band payload in the SES AMERICOM fleet. Its "twin," AMC-15, was launched by ILS in October on a Proton launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and is currently undergoing in-orbit testing. AMC-16 carries twelve 125 MHz Ka-band spot beams, along with twenty-four 36 MHz, 140 watt Ku-band transponders. As the second satellite dedicated to AMERICOM2Home(R), the spacecraft has been optimized to provide both Direct-to-Home video and broadband services into a single dish. After the launch, SES AMERICOM will complete the testing of all spacecraft systems and ready the satellite for service.

Source (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041117005350&newsLang=en)

[Richard King]

If I can remember to do it I will head up the road to take some pix of the launch. Should be fun.

[rocatman]

If I can remember to do it I will head up the road to take some pix of the launch. Should be fun.

The Atlas V 's are launched from a pad just south of the Shuttle pads.

[BFG]

Oh cool, we could bring out a big crowd and have a dish network launch party :)

[Richard King]

Let's do it. Let's meet at Jetee Park in Port Canaveral. :D

[Richard King]

The Atlas V 's are launched from a pad just south of the Shuttle pads.If it's the pad they have used before it is just across the inlet from Jettee Park in Port Canaveral.

[rocatman]

If it's the pad they have used before it is just across the inlet from Jettee Park in Port Canaveral.

The ones close to Port Canaveral are/were the Atlas I/II pads, 36A and B. The Atlas V is launched from what use to be a Titan III/IV pad either 40 or 41 I believe which are the first pads south of the Shuttle pads. You may get a better view near the gate of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) or up in Titusville. They use to let the general public onto CCAFS for some of the launches (of course they limited folks for Shuttle launches) but since 9/11, I don't think they do that anymore. If you could, the NASA Causeway is the place to get the best view.