spacetoday.net: Proton launches Canadian satellite

Posted: Thu, Dec 11, 2008, 2:14 PM ET (1914 GMT)
Proton-M launch of Ciel 2 (ILS)

A Proton rocket launched a communications satellite for a new Canadian company on Wednesday. The Proton-M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:43 am EST (1343 GMT) and separated the Ciel 2 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit 9 hours and 12 minutes later. The spacecraft, a Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000 C4 model, weighed 5,561 kilograms at launch, making it the largest Spacebus-model satellite ever launched. It carries 32 Ku-band transponders and will operate from 129 degrees west in GEO. The spacecraft is owned by Ciel Satellite Group, a relative new Canadian satellite operator, and will be used by DISH Network to provide HD television programming to its US customers.