Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), provider of commercial
satellites, announced that the QuetzSat-1 satellite, procured by SES is
performing post-launch maneuvers according to plan.
The satellite deployed its solar arrays now following
successful launch from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan aboard an ILS
Proton Breeze M vehicle provided by International Launch Services (ILS).
“On behalf of the hundreds of people who worked on
the QuetzSat program, I would like to express our excitement and pride in
seeing this satellite successfully launched and performing according to
plan,” said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral.
“It has been our privilege to work closely with SES
over the past few years and to provide them with some of the world’s most
powerful satellites for advanced television services,” Celli added.
QuetzSat-1 is a 20-kilowatt all Ku-band communications
satellite that will provide high power Direct-To-Home (DTH) services to Mexico,
North America, and Central America. It is fully contracted to a subsidiary of
EchoStar Corporation.
“Space Systems/Loral has helped us take the next
step in our global growth strategy by providing the QuetzSat-1 satellite,”
said Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer of SES.
“We expect this satellite to provide top quality,
reliable DTH services for our customer EchoStar,” Halliwell added.
QuetzSat-1 is SS/L’s sixth 20-kilowatt satellite to be
placed into orbit. It is based on the 1300 space-proven platform, which has a
long history of reliability and provides the power and flexibility to support a
broad range of applications and technology advances. With this launch, there
are 65 SS/L-built 1300 satellites currently on orbit.
Recently, Space Systems/Loral announced it has been
awarded a
contract to provide two high-power satellites to Intelsat for Direct-to-Home
(DTH) television service in Latin America.
The two satellites will be operated by Intelsat, which
will provide them to DIRECTV Latin America, a leading DTH digital television
services operator in Latin America.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
