[mesquito10]

Sirius rocket delayed | Print | E-mail
Chris Forrester
28-06-2009
The launch of the latest Sirius-XM satellite has been delayed 24-hours. Originally scheduled to launch in the early hours of Tuesday morning, June 30, it has been rescheduled for July 1 local time.

International Launch Services is handling the launch, using a giant Proton rocket fired from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Sirius FM-5 is a Space Systems/Loral Space Bus 1300 model.

Lift of is now scheduled for 1.10am Baikonur time (19.10 GMT/15.10 EDT on June 30). It will go to the 96 deg West location.

The lift-off will be broadcast live on NSS 7, and on Galaxy 28 over North America (see below).

Live Launch Broadcast:
Launch Broadcast Feeds - 30 June 2009
US Domestic C-Band satellite time from CCI will start at 2:15 PM EDT 29 June 2009 for test signals
All other Test Signals will start at 2:30 PM EDT US 30June 2009
Live Coverage Starting at 2:49 PM EDT US 30 June 2009
Launch is scheduled for 3:10 PM EDT US 30 June 2009
Launch Broadcast concludes no later than 3:45 PM EDT US 30 June 2009

In North America the broadcast may be seen on:
SATELLITE: Galaxy 28
TRANSPONDER: C-12
ORBITAL POSITION: 89 Degrees West
BANDWIDTH 36MHz
DOWNLINK FREQ 3940.000 Horizontal

 

[ktk0117]

So what benefits will the subs see form this new sat?

Better sound via less compression?

Room for more channels?

 

[cforrest]

Supposedly better reception since the look angle is higher than the current satellites Sirius has. Also room for more channels supposedly on this satellite. I guess we'll find out this fall when the satellite is operational what the true benefits of it are.

 

[IndyMichael]

May I assume it was successfully launched?

 

[djrobx]

It's supposed to be geostationary which is good for people who have radios in fixed locations. In SoCal there are periods of time when signal reception is nearly unusable. Can't wait to see if this makes my service more reliable.

 

[Ken S]

It should also help us here in South Florida where the signal can be pretty tough to get at times.

 

[xzi]

There will be no extra channels from this. They are already using all 12.5MHz spectrum they are allowed to use and no extra satellites are going to increase that because their signal is not "directional" like satellite TV is.

 

[Wisegoat]

Is this for Sirius radios only? Or XM? Or both?

 

[njblackberry]

May I assume it was successfully launched?

According to n2yo, it was launched on 30 June.

http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=35493

http://www.n2yo.com/browse/?y=2009&m=6

 

[Dolly]

How in the world did they afford to launch it? And it really doesn't sound like it will help that much anyway at least by what has been posted here :shrug:

 

[Ken S]

They used their DirecTV MasterCard pay for the new satellite and launch. They now have almost enough points for a free full season of NFL Sunday Ticket.

 

[njblackberry]

Dolly - they didn't just decide it launch it. They probably started planning this 5+ years ago. When there was PLENTY of money flying around to buy anything. So the bought a new satellite. It was easy money then.

Not now. Don't confuse current conditions with money available years ago.

And I don't believe for a minute that they launched it to do nothing.

 

[Jaspear]

As mentioned above, they launched it to provide a non-fluctuating, constant signal in a fixed location. This should make a big difference if you listen at home since there should be no loss of signal as is now the case with the non-geostationary satellites they currently use. Just like XM!

 

[thestaton]

As mentioned above, they launched it to provide a non-fluctuating, constant signal in a fixed location. This should make a big difference if you listen at home since there should be no loss of signal as is now the case with the non-geostationary satellites they currently use. Just like XM!

This explains why when I added the sirius kit to my onkyo reciever I could drag the antenna out in the front yard and the signal would cut in and out.

 

[ktk0117]

As mentioned above, they launched it to provide a non-fluctuating, constant signal in a fixed location. This should make a big difference if you listen at home since there should be no loss of signal as is now the case with the non-geostationary satellites they currently use. Just like XM!

Is that really the only reason?

Why not use the opportunity to send better quality audio. I like my Sirius, but FM still sounds WAY better.

 

[Jaspear]

Is that really the only reason?

Why not use the opportunity to send better quality audio. I like my Sirius, but FM still sounds WAY better.

The audio quality (or lack thereof) is a function of the codec being used and the amount of bandwidth doled out by the FCC. The new satellite just replicates the existing bandwidth.

 

[ktk0117]

The audio quality (or lack thereof) is a function of the codec being used and the amount of bandwidth doled out by the FCC. The new satellite just replicates the existing bandwidth.

I just thought that with the merger, there could be a lot of duplicate XM/Sirius channels combined into 1, and free up some of that bandwidth.

I'm sure that each company had their sats before the merger, so if there are some redundant channel merges and or drops, then maybe we could get lucky!

 

[djlong]

The problem is that the Sirius and XM channels are encrypted two different ways. This is massive duplication. This means that Blue Collar Comedy is excrupted one way (channel Sirius103) in the Sirius part of the bandwidth but another way in XM's original spectrum (channel XM148). So Sirius radios can't decrypt XM channels, Xm radios can't decrypt Sirius channels and the only 'savings' is the fact that there's one "studio" broadcasting the same channel two different ways.

I would love to see a true 300-channel universe as opposed to the pair of mostly duplicated 150-channel environments we have now.

 

[Dolly]

They used their DirecTV MasterCard pay for the new satellite and launch. They now have almost enough points for a free full season of NFL Sunday Ticket.

Ken S that was a Priceless reply :lol: I really asked for that one :biggrin:

 

[Italia]

They used their DirecTV MasterCard pay for the new satellite and launch. They now have almost enough points for a free full season of NFL Sunday Ticket.

This was brilliant! I'm still laughing as I type this.