spacetoday.net: Proton launches Intelsat 22

Posted: Mon, Mar 26, 2012, 6:27 AM ET (1027 GMT)
Proton launch of Intelsat 22 (ILS)

A Proton rocket successfully launched Sunday a new communications satellite for Intelsat. The Proton-M rocket, carrying the Intelsat 22 satellite, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:10 am EDT (1210 GMT). The Proton's Briz-M upper stage released the satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit 15 hours after launch. The launch was the first to use such a transfer orbit, with an apogee of 65,000 kilometers; the trajectory provided an additional 200 kilograms of payload capacity for the mission. Intelsat 22 is a Boeing 702MP satellite, the first of that particular model, with a launch mass of nearly 6,200 kilograms. The satellite carries a payload of 48 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide coverage of the Indian Ocean region from 72 degrees east in GEO. The satellite also carries 18 UHF transponders for use by the Australian military.