Ekspress-AM2 (, meaning ''Express-AM2'') is a Russian domestic
communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...
. It belongs to the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) based in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, Russia. To provide of communications services (digital television, telephony, videoconferencing, data transmission, the Internet access) and to deploy satellite networks by applying
VSAT
A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a satellite dish, dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 ...
technology to Russia and its neighbors (
CIS).
Satellite description
The satellite has a total of 29
transponders
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...
, was 16
C-band C band may refer to:
* C band (IEEE), a radio frequency band from 4 to 8 GHz
* C band (infrared), an infrared band from 1530 to 1565 nm (roughly 200 THz)
* C band (NATO)
The NATO C-band is the obsolete designation given to the radio frequen ...
, 12
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 ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band ...
and 1
L-band
The L band is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) designation for the range of Frequency, frequencies in the radio spectrum from 1 to 2 gigahertz (GHz). This is at the top end of the ultra high frequency (UHF) band, at t ...
transponders. The Ekspress-AM2 Russian domestic communications satellite, built by
Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev
JSC Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev () is a Russian satellite manufacturing company. It is based in the closed city of Krasnoyarsk-26 (today called Zheleznogorsk), Krasnoyarsk Krai near the city of Krasnoyarsk. The company was formerly ca ...
(NPO PM) for
Kosmicheskaya Svyaz. The communications payload was built by the French company
Alcatel Space
Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France.
It provides space-based ...
.
Launch
Ekspress-AM2 was launched by
, using a
Proton-K
The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index or SL-12 after its model number, was a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81/23, 8 ...
/
DM-2M launch vehicle
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...
. The launch took place at 21:31:00
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
on 29 March 2005, from
Site 200/39 at
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
.
Successfully deployed into
geostationary transfer orbit
In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...
(GTO), Ekspress-AM2 raised itself into an operational geostationary orbit using its
apogee motor
An apogee kick motor (AKM) is a rocket motor that is regularly employed on artificial satellites to provide the final impulse to change the trajectory from the transfer orbit into its final orbit (most commonly circular orbit, circular). For a ...
.
Mission
Ekspress-AM2 was retired in 2016 and was moved into a
graveyard orbit
A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an Orbit (physics), orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well beyond geosynchronous orbit. Some satellit ...
above the geostationary belt.
References
{{Orbital launches in 2005
Ekspress satellites
Spacecraft launched in 2005
2005 in Russia
Satellites using the KAUR bus