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Telesat unveils plans for new digital TV satellite TELESAT NEWS RELEASE Posted: January 18, 2006 Telesat, one of the world's leading satellite operators, has announced plans to build and launch Nimiq 4, a new direct broadcast satellite that will carry a wide range of digital television services. Telesat's eighteenth satellite will enable Telesat's customer, Bell ExpressVu, to continue to enhance advanced services such as high-definition television, specialty channels and foreign language programming. Telesat has selected EADS Astrium, Europe's largest space company, as the manufacturer for Nimiq 4, and International Launch Services (ILS) for the satellite's launch in 2008. "For more than 35 years, Telesat has taken pride in carrying the most advanced broadcasting services to viewers from sea to sea ‹ and Nimiq 4 continues that tradition," said Larry Boisvert, Telesat's president and CEO. "Nimiq 4 extends Telesat's longstanding partnerships with Bell ExpressVu, EADS Astrium and ILS. Together, we're taking digital television to new frontiers." As prime contractor for Nimiq 4, EADS Astrium will design and build the satellite and supply both its payload and its platform. Canadian industry will provide a significant portion of the spacecraft's equipment and technology. Based on the powerful E3000 version of the Eurostar satellite, Nimiq 4 will be equipped with 32 active high-power transponders in Ku-band and eight in Ka-band. Nimiq 4 will have a launch mass of 4.8 tonnes, a solar array span of 39 meters once deployed in orbit, and spacecraft power of 12 kW at end of life. Operating in geostationary orbit, the satellite will provide commercial services for a minimum of 15 years and will operate from an orbital location of 82 deg West. Nimiq 4 will launch on an ILS Proton/Breeze M rocket built by Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The Proton has carried more than 300 missions for the Russian government and commercial customers for more than 40 years, and has a reliability record of 96 percent ‹ rising to 100 percent with the Breeze M upper stage. About Telesat About EADS Astrium About ILS |
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After reaching Lockheed Martin's Vertical Integration Facility following the early morning drive across the Cape, a crane lifts the New Horizons spacecraft into the 30-story building for mounting atop the awaiting Atlas 5 vehicle.
The New Horizons spacecraft, mounted atop a special transporter, departs Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility after spending three months in the building undergoing testing, final closeouts, filling of its hydrazine fuel, mating with the third stage kick motor and spin-balance checks. The probe was driven to the Atlas 5 rocket's assembly building at Complex 41 for mating with the launcher.
With New Horizons enclosed within the Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket's nose cone, a large decal reading: "New Horizons: Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission" is applied to the payload fairing.
The New Horizons is packed away for its launch to Pluto as workers slide the two-piece Atlas 5 rocket nose cone around the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The Swiss-made shroud protects the spacecraft during ascent through Earth's atmosphere.
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This film looks at the highlights in NASA's history from its creation in the 1950s, through the glory days of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, birth of the space shuttle and the loss of Challenger, launch of Hubble and much more.