Lockheed Martin-Built AMC-14 Satellite Ready For Launch From Baikonur Cosmodrome

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The AMC-14 communications satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE:  LMT] for SES AMERICOM, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG),is ready for launch on March 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Proton/Breeze M launch vehicle provided by International Launch Services.  AMC-14, which is scheduled to launch at 5:18 a.m. in Baikonur (March 14 at 7:18 p.m. EDT), will be located at orbital location 61.5 degrees West Longitude.

AMC-14 will provide direct-to-home broadcast services across the continentalU.S., Mexico and Central America for EchoStar Communications Corp., which has leased the entire capacity of AMC-14.  Based on Lockheed Martin’s A2100AX platform, AMC-14 features 32 high-power Ku-band transponders in the BSS frequency band, each utilizing 24 MHz bandwidth. The spacecraft antenna is designed for operation over two separate orbital arcs: 61.5 degrees West Longitude to 77 degrees West Longitude or 110 degrees West Longitude to 148 degrees West Longitude, providing SES AMERICOM extensive flexibility in meeting their customer’s business plans. 

AMC-14 also carries a demonstration receive active phased array (APA) payload that allows coverage to be reshaped on orbit.   The spacecraft incorporates the highest levels of redundancy on core components such as amplifiers, receivers, command and control components and on-board computers.

AMC-14 is expected to provide more than 15 years of service life and is the 17th Lockheed Martin-built A2100 series spacecraft designed, built and launched for SES companies.  In 2007, Lockheed Martin successfully launched ASTRA 1L for SES ASTRA and SIRIUS 4 for SES SIRIUS.  AMC-14 also marks the 36th A2100 spacecraft designed and built by Lockheed Martin for customers worldwide. 

The Lockheed Martin A2100 geosynchronous spacecraft series is designed to meet a wide variety of telecommunications needs including Ka-band broadband and broadcast services, fixed satellite services in C-band and Ku-band, high-power direct broadcast services using the Ku-band frequency spectrum and mobile satellite services using UHF, L-band, and S-band payloads. The A2100's modular design features a reduction in parts, simplified construction, increased on-orbit reliability and reduced weight and cost.

The A2100 spacecraft’s design accommodates a large range of communication payloads.  This design modularity also enables the A2100 spacecraft to be configured for missions other than communication.  The A2100 design is currently being adapted for geostationary earth orbit (GEO)-based earth observing missions and is currently the baselined platform for Lockheed Martin’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Series-R (GOES-R) proposal.  The A2100 also serves as the platform for critical government communications programs including Advanced Extremely High Frequency and Mobile User Objective System and is the foundation for Lockheed Martin's Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) offering for the U.S. Government.

Image Caption: A2100

Image Credit: Lockheed Martin

Source: Lockheed Martin

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Time Stamp: 3/12/2008 at 12:19:06 PM CST

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