Intelsat Ltd. this week announced that a Zenit-3SLB vehicle successfully launched Intelsat 15 from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan at 4 a.m. ET on Nov. 30.
The satellite will replace Intelsat's 708 satellite, which is located at 85 degrees east longitude and is expected to have a useful life of at least 17 years.
Intelsat 15 has 22 Ku-band transponders. Five of these are owned by SKY Perfect ISAT Corp., and will be used to provide direct broadband connections between Japan and the coastal countries and also sea areas throughout the Indian Ocean region for interactive mobile communications for ships and other vessels at sea. Customers can use the satellite's capacity to provide services including cellular backhaul, wireless communications to remote locations, broadband networks for enterprise applications, IP trunking, Internet connectivity and video services.
"IS-15 is our second launch of 2009, and the second in an 11-satellite launch campaign, the largest in Intelsat's history," said Dave McGlade, Intelsat CEO. "This spacecraft will have a satellite footprint that covers the majority of the Middle East, the Indian Ocean region and Russia, making it an ideal spacecraft for delivering services to customers operating in these regions. This satellite is also supporting the expansion of government applications in the Indian Ocean region."
