SatSignals Are Direct Success For Boeing

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has received the first on-orbit signals from its DIRECTV 11 satellite. This indicates the satellite is healthy and operating normally. A ground station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa, reported spacecraft acquisition at 1:44 a.m. Eastern time, on March 20th. This newest satellite for DIRECTV Inc. was launched on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket on March 19 from Sea Launch’s equatorial launch site in the Pacific Ocean. DIRECTV 11 is a Boeing 702 satellite with onboard technology that will enable DIRECTV to continue expanding its industry-leading lineup of quality High-Definition Television (HDTV) programming to its U.S. customers. DIRECTV 11, together with the DIRECTV 10 satellite launched last year, will provide DIRECTV with the capacity for 150 national HDTV channels and 1,500 local channels. DIRECTV 1, launched in 1993, boasted a solar wingspan of 86 feet and an innovative graphite-antenna system featuring transmit and receive reflectors with a contoured surface that required only one feedhorn antenna to provide an optimal signal. Today’s DIRECTV 11 has a wingspan measuring more than 157 feet and supplements its antenna system with spot-beam technology capable of concentrating the broadcast signal to specific markets. DIRECTV 11 is the second of three next-generation Boeing-built satellites that are helping to expand DIRECTV’s market by providing technology that brings the crystal-clear sharpness of satellite-delivered HDTV into millions of households. (Photo credit: Sea Launch)—St. Louis, Missouri