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Sea Launch Delivers EchoStar X Satellite to Orbit |
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LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb. 16, 2006/Satnews Daily/ — Sea Launch Company successfully delivered on Wednesday EchoStar X communications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) with early data indicating the spacecraft is in excellent condition.
A Zenit-3SL vehicle lifted off at 3:35pm PT (23:35 GMT), from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude. Sea Launch said all systems performed nominally throughout the flight and the Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 4,333 kg (9,553 lb.) EchoStar X satellite to GTO, on its way to a final orbital position of 110 degrees West Longitude.
A ground station in Uralla, Australia, acquired the first signal from the satellite, as planned, a Sea Launch statement said.
The EchoStar X satellite, with a minimum service life of 15 years, was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems in Pennsylvania and then assembled in Sunnyvale, California. The high-power Ku band A2100-AX spacecraft is designed to deliver direct-to-home broadcast services to Dish Network customers throughout the United States. Lockheed said this direct broadcast system is optimized to provide additional bandwidth and, used in conjunction with other EchoStar satellites, EchoStar X will enable the Dish Network to expand its customer services and channel offerings.
Following acquisition of the spacecraft's signal, Jim Maser, president and general manager of Sea Launch, confirmed the success of Sea Launch’s second mission with EchoStar.
Sea Launch made two launch attempts, on Feb. 8 and Feb. 12, before the successful Wednesday launch.
EchoStar X now joins EchoStar Communications Corp.'s current fleet of nine satellites that provide Dish Network customers with hundreds of all-digital television channels, including interactive TV services, sports programming, high definition television and international programming. EchoStar, based in Englewood, Colorado, serves more than 12 million satellite TV customers.
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