Cains Director to attend SES Global satellite launch in French Guiana
22nd November 2006
On 8th December, Isle of Man company, SES Global Satellite Leasing Ltd, will launch the first ever “Manx satellite” into outer space.
It was only in December 2005 that SES Global, the world’s leading satellite operator announced at a special presentation at the Manx Museum that their Isle of Man company, SES Global Satellite Leasing Ltd had initiated 5 satellite programmes, representing EUR 1 billion of capital expenditure.
At the time, SES Global Chief Financial Officer Mark Rigolle said that the SES “commitment to the Isle of Man is very substantial and for the long term”. He went on to say that “we chose the Isle of Man for a variety of reasons but in particular because of the stable political and regulatory environment”.
SES opened it’s new office in Athol Street, Douglas in early December2005, following the appointment of Richard Hill as Managing Director in the August.
SES Global Satellite Leasing Ltd, the Isle of Man company, is positioned to be the procurement vehicle for a series of satellites, some of which will still be in operation in 20 years time.
SES has a global fleet of over 40 satellites with optimal look angles and comprehensive landmass coverage. They employ some 1200 people in total and have primary business locations in Luxembourg, USA and Netherlands.
SES Global intend to brand the launch on the 8th December as an Isle of Man event and representatives from those involved on the Island will be travelling to Korou, French Guiana for this historic occasion.
Amongst those attending from the Island will be:
Richard Hill, Managing Director SES Global Satellite Leasing
Andy Corlett, Cains
Tim Craine, Director of E-Business and Space Commerce
Anthony Hewitt, Director, Communications Commission
The event in Kourou will also allow the Isle of Man representatives to network with a significant number of key decision makers in the industry.
Commenting on the announcement, Director of Space Commerce Tim Craine said “this will be a very significant occasion for the Isle of Man and a major milestone in the development of the space industry on the Island. The Isle of Man is starting to build profile and reputation in a wide range of space related areas of activity and the launch of the AMC 18 will be further evidence of just how real and important the space sector is becoming to the economy of the Island.”
The AMERICOM-18 (AMC-18) satellite was delivered to Kourou, French Guiana on November 6 to be readied for its Ariane 5 ECA launch on December 8.
AMC-18 is an all C-band satellite, designed to offer full North American coverage including all 50 U.S. states, the Caribbean and Mexico from 105 degrees west longitude. It will become the third satellite in this section of the “arc” delivering cable programming; the other two satellites are AMC-1 at 103 degrees West and AMC-4 at 101 degrees West. Working with its customers and the cable industry, AMERICOM has installed triple-feed antennas to cable head-ends serving half of the U.S. cable households to facilitate their reception of cable programming from all three spacecraft.
The A2100 spacecraft was procured by SES Global Satellite Leasing Ltd., an SES company located on the Isle of Man; AMC-18 will be operated and marketed by SES AMERICOM. The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS), will be launched by Arianespace on the Ariane 5 ECA mission V174 scheduled for December 8 from Spaceport in Kourou; its co-passenger will be WildBlue-1.
“The AMC-18 spacecraft has been optimized for next generation programming services, including high definition channels. Launched in 2004, our HD-PRIME neighbourhood, composed of AMC-10 and AMC-11, is saturated; the triple play of AMC-1, AMC-4 and soon AMC-18, allows AMERICOM to deliver on our promise to expand the bandwidth resources needed as our customers increase their delivery of high definition channels,” said Edward D. Horowitz, President and CEO of SES AMERICOM. He continued, “The high level of redundancy for the payload and all mission critical subsystems on AMC-18 is typical of AMERICOM spacecraft. We appreciate the high quality efforts of LMCSS in building the spacecraft to our specifications and entrust this mission to the Ariane team to deliver on-time and on-target in early December.”
The spacecraft, along with an array of testing equipment and systems, was packed into six sea containers weighing more than 30 metric tons and then loaded on a special purpose Antonov cargo plane. The flight left Lockheed Martin’s Sunnyvale, California processing center on November 5, 2006, and arrived the following day. The plane’s cargo was unloaded and the combined satellite programme teams from AMERICOM and LMCSS immediately began a rigorous sequence of pre-launch preparations. These preparations include launch site testing, spacecraft fuelling, integrating the satellite into the fairing, mating the fairing with the Ariane 5, a final set of tests, and roll-out of the rocket to the launch pad.
Redundancy features of AMC-18 include triple redundancy on TT&C subsystem and on-board computers; payload redundancy is covered with 16-for-12 transponders for intra-spacecraft backup. In addition, in-orbit protection by AMC-7 is available to protect the cable programming services distributed on AMC-18.
About LMCSS
Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems builds upon the expertise of several heritage Lockheed Martin companies and has manufactured, launched, deployed and maintained more space platforms than any other company. Its satellite systems support a broad range of applications, including direct broadcast, fixed satellite, broadband and mobile communications. LMCSS is best known for its award-winning A2100 spacecraft platform. There are currently 30 A2100 satellites in orbit, providing service to customers in all regions of the world.
Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2005 sales of $37.2 billion.
About Arianespace
Arianespace is the commercial launch services leader, holding more than 50 percent of the international market for satellites launched to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Created in 1980 as the world’s first commercial space transportation company, Arianespace has signed contracts for the launch of more than 270 satellite payloads. For further information, see the Arianespace Web site at www.arianespace.com.
About SES AMERICOM
The largest supplier of satellite services in the U.S., SES AMERICOM is recognized as a pioneer of global satellite communications services. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the launch of its first satellite, the company today operates a fleet of 18 spacecraft in orbital positions predominantly providing service throughout the Americas. As a member of the SES GLOBAL family, SES AMERICOM is able to provide end-to-end telecommunications solutions to any region of the world via a fleet of 44 satellites. In addition, AMERICOM Government Services, a wholly owned subsidiary, is dedicated to providing satellite-based communications solutions to both civilian and defense agencies of the U.S. government. With its combined operations, SES AMERICOM serves broadcasters, cable programmers, aeronautical and maritime communications integrators, Internet service providers, mobile communications networks, government agencies, educational institutions, carriers and secure global data networks with efficient communication and content distribution solutions.
For further information please contact Andrew Corlett. |
