Telesat’s Anik F1R Satellite Ready for Launch on Sept. 9

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, Sept. 6, 2005/Satnews Daily/ — Telesat’s Anik F1R satellite, manufactured by EADS Astrium, is all set for launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on September 9 (September 8 in Europe and North America) on an International Launch Service Proton Breeze M launch vehicle.

The satellite will offer fixed satellite communications services in North America through a total of 56 transponders in C and Ku-bands, and includes a navigation payload. It will be positioned at the 107.3 degrees West location in geostationary orbit to provide broadcasters, governments, corporations, and small businesses with telecommunications services over a large zone covering Canada and the continental US. It is equipped with 24 transponders operating in C-band and 32 active transponders in Ku-band.

The satellite also includes a navigation payload operating in C-band for uplink and L-band for downlink. This navigation payload will provide a significant enhancement to the available tools in North America for providing precision guidance to aircraft. The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 4.5 tons, a solar array span of 36 meter once deployed in orbit, and a spacecraft power of more than 10 kW at the end of its 15-year mission lifetime.

EADS Astrium designed and built the spacecraft and supplied both the payloads and the platform. Canadian companies EMS Technologies and COM DEV also supplied a significant part of the spacecraft equipment and technology.

Anik F1R is based on the E3000 version of Eurostar communications satellite family. EADS Astrium said this is the first of two Anik spacecraft built by the company for Telesat.

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