Express-AM 33

Launch data: Designation  32478 / 08003A Launch date  28 Jan 2008 - 00:18 UT Launch site  B, LC-200/39 Launch vehicle  Proton-M / Briz-M Mission  Commercial: Communication Geostationary orbit on Jan 31.96: Perigee / Apogee  35258 x 35786 km Eccentricity  1.07E-04 Inclination  0.09° Period  1422.59 min

Mission details:

• Express-AM33 is a 2,579-kg (dry) communications satellites that carries 10 C-band, 16 Ku-band and 1 L-band transponders to provide digital TV services, Internet access, data transmission, video conferencing as well as mobile presidential and governmental communications.  It also provide VSAT services across Russia, CIS countries, Europe, Asia and Africa. Ordered by Russian Satellites Communications Company, the satellite was manufactured by NPO PM (Krasnoyarsk) together with Thales Alenia Space (France). Express-AM33 is the sixth implementation of the Express-AM satellite platform. The distinctive feature of the new satellite is the steerable C- and Ku-band antennas enabling a most flexible respond to different customer requests.
• The Ekspress AM-33 communications satellite for the Russian domestic satellite company Kosmicheskaya Svyaz was launched on a Krunichev Proton-M/Briz-M on Jan 28. AM-33 is built by NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki, with a communications payload developed by Thales Alenia. It has a mass of 2540 kg. The spacecraft entered a 405 x 35550 km x 46.2 deg transfer orbit before being placed in geosynchronous orbit; an object tracked in that orbit is probably the Briz DTB propellant tank.