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
|
|
Saturday, October 3
ETH Space Researcher Thomas Zurbuchen Joins Blue Origin
Blue News — 12:21 am ET (0421 GMT) Swiss space researcher Thomas Zurbuchen to join Blue Origin
Swissinfo — 12:21 am ET (0421 GMT) With Elon Musk’s Return to Washington, Possible Conflicts of Interest Resurface
New York Times — 12:19 am ET (0419 GMT) World Space Week 2026: How Rocket Revolution is reshaping exploration
The Federal (India) — 12:17 am ET (0417 GMT) Could we ever create artificial gravity on a spaceship?
LiveScience — 12:16 am ET (0416 GMT) |
