PARIS — An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket successfully placed Telesat’s Nimiq 6 direct-broadcast television satellite into geostationary transfer orbit May 18 in the fifth Proton liftoff of 2012 and the fourth commercial mission for ILS.
Ottawa, Canada-based Telesat will operate Nimiq 6 at 91.1 degrees west, where its 32 Ku-band transponders will provide television services for Canada’s Bell TV. Bell TV has leased the satellite’s entire payload for 15 years, meaning Nimiq 6 will provide an immediate revenue boost to Telesat once it is declared ready for service.
Nimiq 6 weighed about 4,500 kilograms at launch and was built by Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif.
Launched from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Proton rocket’s Breeze M upper stage flew for nine hours and 14 minutes and completed five ignitions before releasing Nimiq 6, Reston, Va.-based ILS said in a statement.
