ILS Has AMC-14 Ready To Rocket

International Launch Services is stating that liftoff for the AMC-14 satellite is March 15th at 23:18 GMT from Baikonur‘s Launch Pad 39 aboard a Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle. This comsat is based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 platform and was built by that company’s Commercial Space Systems division. The launch vehicle was manufactured by Khrunichev Sate Research and Production Space Center in Moscow. The liftoff weight, including payload, will be 1,523, 565 lbs. The ILS client is SES AMERICOM which will use the satellite for their AMERICOM2Home customer, EchoStar‘s DISH Network DTH service for the U.S. The satellite packs 32 Ku-band transponders and will reside in an orbital location of 61.5° W, with an anticipated service life of 15 years. The first three stages of the Proton will use a standard ascent trajectory to place the Breeze M fourth stage and the AMC-14 satellite into a suborbital trajectory. Then the Breeze M will place itself, and the spacecraft, into a circular parking orbit. Two additional burns will inject the satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. Separation is expected some 6 hours, 55 minutes and 50 seconds after liftoff. To view the launch, the live broadcast in the U.S. will be via AMC-1, transponder 17, C-band, 103° W, downlink 4040 MHz (horizontal), analog NTSC, with test signals starting at 6:30 p.m. , EDT. For Europe, Russia, and Kazakhstan, viewing will be via NSS-7, transponder WHL4/EUH3, Channel 1, Ku-band, 338° E; FEC 3/4, sym rate; 5,683; downlink 11095.6 MHz (horizontal), digital PAL, with test signals starting at 22:30 GMT. You can grab additional launch information at the ILS launch website—McLean, Virginia