SES AMERICOM + OSC AGREE GOOD THINGS COME IN THREE

SES AMERICOM + Orbital Sciences Corporation have announced the order of a third spacecraft under the multi-satellite contract both companies revealed in May of 2007. Under this contract, the first and second satellites ordered were AMC-5R and a ground spare. That ground spare will now become AMC-1R, and a new ground spare will be produced for a future use. Planned for launch in the second half of 2009, AMC-1R will have a permanent home in geosynchronous Earth orbit at 103° W. AMC-1R was the ground spare originally ordered with AMC-5R. With 24 transponders in each frequency band (C- and Ku-), AMC-1R will initially operate at 101° W and then move to its permanent home at the aforementioned location. Orbital will serve as the prime contractor for the new spacecraft, which is based on the most powerful version of the STAR 2 satellite platform. AMC-1R and the identical ground spare will be hybrid satellites; a portion of each frequency payload will be cross-strapped, allowing signals to be transmitted to the satellite in one frequency and received in the other. The spacecraft will generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power and will have two deployable reflectors. Delivery of AMC-1R is scheduled for mid-2009, for a second half 2009 launch supplied by Sea Launch on the Zenit-3SLB vehicle called Land Launch—Princeton, New Jersey + Dulles, Virginia