Satellite Update - July 13, 2012

By Doug Lung
published

From FCC Report SAT-00880, Actions Taken: 

Star One S.A.'s request to access the U.S. market with Star One C3 using the 13.75-14.0 GHz (Earth-to-space) and 10.95-11.2 GHz (space-to-Earth) frequency bands was granted. 

In other satellite news:

EchoStar XVII, the Hughes Network Systems satellite built by Space Systems/Loral was launched on an Ariane 5 ECA launcher from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It was successfully placed into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Hughes Network Systems said the ground station in Hassan, Karnataka in India received signals from the satellite. It will be maneuvered into geosynchronous orbit at 107.1 degrees west longitude (WL) and will provide HughesNet Gen4-Hughes' fourth-generation satellite Internet service using Hughes Network System's Jupiter high-throughput technology. 

Another satellite built by Space Systems/Loral successfully made it into orbit. SES-5 was launched July 9 from the Balkonur Space Center in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton Breeze M vehicle from International Launch Services. It is being maneuvered into geosynchronous orbit at 5 degrees East Longitude, where it will serve customers in Europe and Africa. 

SES-5 is a complicated satellite. It has 36 active Ku-band transponders with two Ku-band beams, one covering the Nordic and Baltic countries and the other serving sub-Saharan Africa. As many as 24 active C-band transponders will use two C-band beams, one with global coverage and other with hemispheric coverage. Ka-band uplink capability is provided to allow flexible operations between Europe and Africa. These beams will be used for direct-to-home services, satellite broadband, maritime communications, GSM backhaul, and VSAT applications. SES-5 carries an L-band secondary payload for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. 

“We are pleased to see the successful launch of this complex satellite and the beginning of the post-launch maneuvers,” said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. “I’d like to thank everyone at launch base and the teams that saw SES-5 through from design to launch for their hard work and commitment to making this satellite program a success.”

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.