AMC-21, or GE-21, is an American

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Ear ...

operated by SES S.A., formerly SES World Skies and SES Americom. It was launched in August 2008 and is expected to remain in service for approximately 15 years. It is currently located at 125° West longitude.

Spacecraft and mission design

AMC-21 is based on a STAR-2

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...

that provides 4.4 kilowatts of power for the communications payload. The platform will support a 15-year on-orbit mission life. It carries 24 Ku-band transponders at 36 MHz, which will be used to broadcast television signals to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, the Caribbean, and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Manufacture

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...

was the prime contractor for AMC-21, and provided the satellite's communications payload. The STAR-2 bus was subcontracted to

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

, as were integration and testing of the satellite. As prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space delivered the completed satellite to SES Americom.

Launch

AMC-21 was launched, along with the

Superbird-7 Superbird-C2, known as Superbird-7 before launch, is a geostationary communications satellite operated by JSAT Corporation and designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric on the DS2000 satellite bus. It had a launch weight of , a 15-year d ...

satellite, by an

Ariane 5 ECA Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads into ...

launch vehicle on 14 August 2008 at 20:44 UTC. The satellite separated from the launch vehicle in a

geosynchronous transfer orbit A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step ...

(GTO). An onboard IHI- 500 N (IHI-BT4)

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

then raised it to an operational geostationary orbit and placed it at a longitude of 125° West of the

Greenwich Meridian The historic prime meridian or Greenwich meridian is a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. The modern IERS Reference Meridian widely used today is based on the Greenwich mer ...

. After successful completion of in-orbit testing, SES Americom took operational control of AMC-21 in September 2008.

Mergers and acquisitions

In September 2009, SES Americom

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with SES New Skies to form SES World Skies, to which all of its operational satellites, including AMC-21, were transferred.

External links

AMC-21 Channel List at Sathint

References

{{Orbital launches in 2008 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2008 SES satellites Satellites using the GEOStar bus