SES-5 (Astra 4B)

Spacecraft nr:

Sweden spacecraft nr: 13

Launch data: Designation  38652 / 12036A Launch date  09 July 2012 - 18:38 UT Launch site  Baik, LC-81/24 Launch vehicle  Proton-M / Briz-M Mission  Commercial: Communication Geostationary orbit: Perigee / Apogee  35783 x 35791 km Eccentricity  9,49E-05 Inclination  0.13 deg Period  1436.1 min

Description:

• The SES-5 satellite was designed and built for SES by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a leading manufacturer of commercial satellites. The spacecraft, to be positioned at the orbital slot of 5 degrees East, features 36 active Ku-band transponders and up to 24 active C-band transponders. SES-5 has two Ku-band beams, one serving customers in the Nordic and Baltic countries and one serving Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as two C-band beams, one with global coverage and one with hemispheric coverage over Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The satellite provides Ka-band uplink capability, allowing for flexible operations between Europe and Africa. SES-5 is designed to deliver high performance and extensive coverage for Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, broadband, maritime communications, GSM backhaul, and VSAT applications in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. SES-5 also features the L-band payload for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). The EGNOS payload, which was developed for the European Commission (EC), will help verify, improve, and report on the reliability and accuracy of navigation positioning signals in Europe.

Mission details:

• The SES-5 communications satellite was launched from Baykonur on Jul 9, 2012.
  The 6007 kg Loral-1300 satellite has Ku and C band communications payloads for SES and an L-band EGNOS navigation system for the European Space Agency. SES-5 was formerly Sirius 5; the Nordiska Satellite company was bought by SES and progressively absorbed by them between 2005 and 2010.
• By Jul 13 SES-5 was in a 25947 x 35782 km x 2.5 deg orbit.