AMC-8, also known as Aurora III, previously GE-8, is a C-band

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

located at 139° West, covering the

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and the Caribbean. It is owned and operated by SES World Skies, formerly

SES Americom SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator of North American geosynchronous satellites based in the United States. The company started as RCA Americom in 1975 before being bought by General Electric in 1986 and then later acquired by ...

and before that

GE Americom SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator of North American geosynchronous satellites based in the United States. The company started as RCA Americom in 1975 before being bought by General Electric in 1986 and then later acquired by ...

. The satellite provides critical telecommunications services to AT&T Alascom, which occupies most of the satellite's capacity. AMC-8 was launched in 2000 as GE-8, and replaced Satcom-C5 in March 2001. AMC-8 was used by thousands of terrestrial radio stations for network feeds using ground equipment from Starguide, X-Digital Systems, Wegener and International Datacasting. Major tenants were Cumulus Media Networks Satellite Services (which includes

Citadel Media Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

, Talk Radio Network, WOR Radio Network and others), Skyview Networks (which includes ABC News, ABC Radio, California News Network, Arizona News Network, numerous Professional and Collegian Sports networks, and others), Orbital Media Networks (which includes United Stations Radio Networks,

John Tesh John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. He hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 2014, he has hosted ''Intelligen ...

, and others),

Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. I ...

Dial Global Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

, Learfield Communications,

The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show ''The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show'' is a syndicated morning talk radio show broadcast primarily from the Townsquare Media radio station WGRD-FM in Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Ke ...

(Transponder 15), and others. However, these were moved over to another satellite,

AMC-18 AMC-18 is a geostationary Lockheed Martin A2100A communications satellite owned by SES Americom. It was launched on 8 December 2006 from Centre Spatial Guyanais aboard an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle and is situated at 83° West longitude, prov ...

. Audio network transmissions on AMC-8 ended as of midnight 30 June 2017. Since AMC-8 is past its design life, it will soon be decommissioned. As of 1 July 2017, there are no plans to put another satellite in AMC-8's orbital slot (139° West). It carries 24 36 MHz C-band transponders, with 20 watts SSPA amplifiers. Its amplifier redundancy is 16 for 12, and its receiver redundancy is four for two. It carries two beacons, one broadcasting on a horizontal frequency of 3700.5 MHz, and the other on a vertical frequency of 4199.5 MHz. Animation of AMC-8 trajectory around Earth

Animation of AMC-8 trajectory around Earth

References

External links

AMC-8 website from SES-Americom
{{Orbital launches in 2000 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2000 SES satellites AMC-08