The Nimiq satellites are a Canadian fleet of geostationary telecommunications satellites owned by

Telesat Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa. History Telesat began as Telesat Canada, a Canadian Crown corporation created by an Act of Pa ...

and used by satellite television providers including

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television ser ...

and EchoStar ( Dish Network). 'Nimiq' is an

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

word used for an object or a force which binds things together. A contest in 1998 was held to choose the name of these satellites. The contest drew over 36,000 entries. Sheila Rogers, a physiotherapist from Nepean, Ontario, submitted the winning name. Nimiq Winner

Nimiq-1

Nimiq-1 was launched on 21 May 1999 by a

Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index or SL-12 after its model number, 8K82K, was a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 an ...

Blok DM-03 The Blok DM-03 (russian: Блок ДМ-03 meaning ''Block DM-03''), GRAU index ''11S861-03'', is a Russian upper stage used as an optional fourth stage on the Proton-M heavy-lift rocket. Three have been launched, the first in December 2010; t ...

launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. It was Canada's first direct broadcast digital TV satellite and was paid for by

, a Canadian communications company and subsidiary of

Bell Canada Enterprises BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a corp ...

. * Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin * Satellite Type: Lockheed Martin,

A2100AX The A2100 is a model of communications satellite spacecraft made by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. It is used as the foundation for telecommunications payloads in geosynchronous orbit, as well as GOES-R weather satellites and GPS Block IIIA satel ...

* Weight: * Dimensions: 5.8 x 2.4 x 2.4 m and a 27 m² solar array * DC power: 120 W * Expected lifetime: 12 years * Transponders: 32 * Vehicle:

Nimiq-2

Nimiq 2, launched on 29 December 2002 on a Proton Breeze M launch vehicle, includes 32

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

transponders. Nimiq 2 provides additional bandwidth for

High-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

(HDTV) and interactive television applications. On 20 February 2003, Nimiq-2 experienced a partial power failure and as such can only power 26 of its 32 Ku-band transponders. Nimiq 2's orbital slot, 123° West longitude, was changed to 91.61° East longitude during June 2019.

Nimiq-3, -4i and -4iR

Nimiq-3 and Nimiq-4i were leased by

from DirecTV Inc. when they were already in orbit. Originally called '' Direct-TV3'' and ''Direct-TV2'' respectively, these Hughes HS-601 models were brought out of retirement and are currently used to share some of the workload from ''Nimiq-2'' and ''Nimiq-1'', respectively. They went online in Bell TV's stead in 2004 and 2006. Nimiq-4i ran out of fuel and was replaced by Nimiq-4iR on 28 April 2007.

Nimiq-4

Nimiq-4 was launched on 19 September 2008, by a

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...

/ Briz M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will replace Nimiq-4i, and will provide advanced services such as

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

specialty channels A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted ...

and foreign language programming. * Manufacturer:

EADS Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 1 ...

* Satellite type:

Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 1 ...

Eurostar E3000S * Weight: * Dimensions: 39 metres solar array span * Power: 12 kW at end of life * Expected lifetime: 15 years * Transponders: 32 Ku-band, and 8 in Ka-band * Vehicle:

Briz-M The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M (russian: Бриз-К, КM and M meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket orbit insertion upper stages manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used ...

* Location: 82.0 West

Nimiq-5

In 2009, Telesat announced plans to build and launch its 19th satellite, Nimiq-5. It selected

International Launch Services International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) is a joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Angara and Proton rocket launch services. Proton launches take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan while Angara is l ...

(ILS) for the launch of the Nimiq-5 satellite in 2009.

Space Systems/Loral SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies. SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cus ...

has been selected as the manufacturer for Nimiq-5. Dish Network is expected to lease all of the 32

transponder payload. The satellite will be located at 72.7° West longitude. The satellite's manufacturing plan also includes contracts with the Canadian satellite industry, including multiplexers and switches from Com Dev International Ltd. and antennas from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, Ltd (MDA Ltd). The Nimiq-5 satellite was shipped from the manufacturer, Space Systems Loral located in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 18 August 2009.

Telesat Canada Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa. History Telesat began as Telesat Canada, a Canadian Crown corporation created by an Act of Parl ...

contracted with

(ILS) in April 2007 for the launch of Nimiq-5 by an ILS

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and ...

. Nimiq-5 was successfully launched into space aboard a Proton M / Breeze M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 19:19:19 UTC on 17 September 2009.

Nimiq-6

Satellite has been be fully leased for its lifetime by

which will use it to service

direct-to-home Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

(DTH) satellite television subscribers across Canada. Nimiq-6 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 17 May 2012. * Manufacturer:

* Satellite Type: LS-1300 * Launch mass: * Dimensions: * Power: 25 kW * Expected lifetime: 15 years * Transponders: 32

* Vehicle:

* Location: 91.1° West

References

{{Canadian Space Agency Communications satellites of Canada Lockheed Martin satellites and probes Telesat