SES AMERICOM announced that its AMERICOM-12 (AMC12) satellite has successfully completed all of its in orbit tests at 67.5 degrees West Longitude and is now being drifted to the 37.5 degrees West Longitude orbital location where it is expected to be operational next month. The Spacebus 4000 satellite, built by Alcatel Space, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in February on a Russian Proton/Breeze M launch vehicle. It has seventy-two 36 MHz C-band transponders, organized into three regional beams covering North America, South America and Europe/Africa. Power levels range from 67 watts in Europe/Middle East/Africa and South America to 33 watts in North America. The satellite includes on-board switching allowing the three beams to be interconnected on an individual transponder basis.
SES ASTRA has dedicated 33 of the transponders for services into Africa under the name "ASTRA 4A." Star One purchased 18 transponders to offer services within South America using the name "Star One C-12."
Dany Harel, SES AMERICOM's vice president of Space Systems and Operations commented on the completion of the in-orbit testing (IOT). "The IOT has been remarkably smooth and we have every confidence that for the next 15 years AMC-12 will deliver the strongest available C-band signals into Africa, Middle East and Europe and throughout the Americas, satisfying the needs of broadcasters, fixed and mobile data and telecommunications networks, and ISPs. AMC-12 bears the distinctive attributes of an AMERICOM-specified spacecraft with high levels of redundancy in critical infrastructure and subsystems; Alcatel delivered a great next generation satellite."
For additional technical information, refer to the coverage maps and specifications.
