Launch Excitement Generated With Delivery of AMERICOM-14 To Baikonur

The AMERICOM-14 (AMC-14) satellite, of SES AMERICOM, an SES company [Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange:SESG], was delivered to Baikonur, Kazakhstan. There, the satellite will be readied for its Proton Breeze M launch scheduled for the morning of March 15, local time (evening of March 14 EST). The A2100 spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems and is being launched by International Launch Services (ILS) for service at the 61.5 degrees West longitude orbital position. AMC-14 is an advanced, high-powered Ku-band BSS satellite, designed for multiple missions to operate across the orbital arc from 61 to 119° W. As the third satellite dedicated to AMERICOM2Home, the spacecraft has been optimized to provide
Direct-to-Home video services. After the launch, SES AMERICOM will
complete the testing of all spacecraft systems and ready the satellite
for continental U.S. service from 61.5° W by EchoStar Corporation (EchoStar).

The AMC-14 satellite provides 8.2 kilowatts of power to the
communications payload, which consists of thirty-two, 24 MHz Ku-band
transponders. In addition, the spacecraft carries a demonstration
phased array antenna that enables coverage shaping while the satellite
is in orbit. The mission is not dependent upon the experimental array;
nonetheless, it gives both AMERICOM and EchoStar an opportunity to
test this next generation technology. The designated mission of AMC-14
is to expand the bandwidth resources needed to increase the number of
high definition and other services offered by EchoStar nationwide.

The AMC-14 spacecraft, along with an assemblage of testing
equipment and systems, made up a massive shipment of 18 huge
containers with a cumulative weight of 83,533 Kgs. The load was flown
to Yubileny Airport at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on an Antonov cargo
plane that departed Moffett Air Force Base, California on February 12th
and arrived in Kazakhstan on February 15. The spacecraft was unpacked
on Saturday, February 16th. A team of SES AMERICOM, Lockheed Martin
and ILS engineers and launch specialists then began a rigorous sequence of
final preparations leading to the mid-March launch. These preparations
include: spacecraft fueling, integration of the satellite with the
Breeze M upper stage, encapsulation of the unit into the launch
vehicle fairing, mating of the fairing with the Proton vehicle,
roll-out and erecting of the rocket on the launch pad, and a final set
of readiness tests—Princeton, New Jersey