Proton launches SES-6
Posted: Tue, Jun 4, 2013, 7:21 AM ET (1121 GMT)
A Proton rocket launched a European communications satellite on Monday, using a longer but more efficient trajectory to place the satellite into orbit. The Proton-M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:18 am EDT (0918 GMT, 3:18 pm local time) Monday, releasing the SES-6 satellite into orbit 15 and a half hours later. Unlike the usual launch of geosynchronous satellites on Protons, which takes a little over nine hours to place the satellite into a standard transfer orbit, the Proton's Briz-M upper stage placed STS-6 into a super-synchronous transfer orbit, with an apogee of 65,000 kilometers. Satellites placed in such orbits can move to their final GEO orbits using less propellant. The 6,100-kilogram SES-6, built by Astrium for SES, will operate at 40.5 degrees west longitude in GEO, providing Ku- and C-band communications services to customers on both sides of the Atlantic, with a Brazilian direct-to-home TV company serving as the satellite's anchor customer.
A Proton rocket launched a European communications satellite on Monday, using a longer but more efficient trajectory to place the satellite into orbit. The Proton-M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:18 am EDT (0918 GMT, 3:18 pm local time) Monday, releasing the SES-6 satellite into orbit 15 and a half hours later. Unlike the usual launch of geosynchronous satellites on Protons, which takes a little over nine hours to place the satellite into a standard transfer orbit, the Proton's Briz-M upper stage placed STS-6 into a super-synchronous transfer orbit, with an apogee of 65,000 kilometers. Satellites placed in such orbits can move to their final GEO orbits using less propellant. The 6,100-kilogram SES-6, built by Astrium for SES, will operate at 40.5 degrees west longitude in GEO, providing Ku- and C-band communications services to customers on both sides of the Atlantic, with a Brazilian direct-to-home TV company serving as the satellite's anchor customer.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Friday, August 14
Intuitive Machines Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results; Continues Record Backlog Expansion With Quarter-end Backlog of $1.8 Billion
GlobeNewswire — 6:07 am ET (1007 GMT) Intuitive Machines Lunar Communication Satellite Launch Plans Change
Aviation Week — 6:06 am ET (1006 GMT) Firefly Aerospace Awarded Contract to Design Elytra Deorbit System for Defense Innovation Unit
Firefly Aerospace — 6:05 am ET (1005 GMT) Cruise control: the team guiding Hera to its asteroid
ESA — 6:05 am ET (1005 GMT) SpaceX plans another multimillion-dollar expansion in Bastrop
Austin (TX) American-Statesman — 6:03 am ET (1003 GMT) |
