Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems said May 17 it had completed the on-orbit handover of DirecTV 12, a Boeing 702HP satellite built to provide high-definition television broadcasting to DirecTV customers throughout the United States.
Built by Boeing in El Segundo, Calif., the satellite was launched in December from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard an International Launch Services Proton M rocket. The satellite’s payload includes 90 active and 24 spare Ka-band transponders. Its antenna receives and transmits digital programming with two Ka-band reflectors that measure 2.8 meters in diameter and nine smaller Ka-band reflectors, Boeing said in a press release.
Now that Boeing has completed checkout and handover of DirecTV 12, the satellite will be monitored and controlled for El Segundo-based DirecTV Group by satellite fleet operator Intelsat of Luxembourg and Washington, Boeing said in a press release.
