[SatNews] The Company has been contracted to launch Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2.

The satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for Telesat of Ontario, Canada, weighs in at 5,000 kg and will be lofted from Launch Pad 39 via a Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle on May 21st at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch time has been set for 01:15 Baikonur local time (3:15 p.m. EDT).

Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 is a commercial communications satellite that will use 46 high powered Ku-band transponders (58 36-MHz transponder equivalents) over five coverage beams consisting of: Brazil, the Continental United States (including the Gulf of Mexico and northern Caribbean), the Southern Cone of South America, the Andean region (including Central America and southern Caribbean), and the North and Mid-Atlantic Ocean. Following its launch, Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 will be located at 63 degrees West, where it will replace and augment the communications capability currently supplied by Telesat’s Telstar 14/ Estrela do Sul.

The first three stages of the Proton, using a 5-burn Breeze M mission design, will use a standard ascent profile to place the orbital unit (Breeze M upper stage and the satellite) into a sub-orbital trajectory. From this point in the mission, the Breeze M will perform planned mission maneuvers to advance the orbital unit first to a circular parking orbit, then to an intermediate orbit, followed by a transfer orbit, and finally to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Separation of the satellite is scheduled to occur approximately 9 hours, 13 minutes after liftoff. A live webcast can be viewed at www.ilslaunch.com, which will start approximately 30 minutes before liftoff.