Nimiq 5 Launch Scheduled for September 18

[rocatman]

From FCC website:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/ibfsweb/ib.page.FetchAttachment?attachment_key=-173508

 

[space86]

Thank you for the news.

 

[nelson61]

Excellent.

AisaSat 5 has launched this afternoon and has sucessfully completed two of the 4 Burns. Six more hours before satellite release. Looks like Nimiq 5 is next up.

 

[bobvick]

Does Dish still just have a lease for 16 transponders or have they obtained a lease for the whole satellite? I had heard rumours that Dish had gotten all 32 TPs.

 

[nelson61]

Does Dish still just have a lease for 16 transponders or have they obtained a lease for the whole satellite? I had heard rumours that Dish had gotten all 32 TPs.

Directv recently extended their lease for the other 16 transponder slots until Sept 2011. So it stays at 16 for now.

 

[mike123abc]

I wonder if they will have to move E6 to 148? I bet they would really like to move it to 61.5.

 

[nelson61]

I wonder if they will have to move E6 to 148? I bet they would really like to move it to 61.5.

From Dish's latest 10Q

As a result of the retirement of EchoStar V, we currently do not have any satellites positioned at the 148 degree orbital location. While we are exploring alternatives for the continued use of this orbital location, there can be no assurance that the FCC will determine that our future use of this orbital location complies fully with all licensing requirements. If the FCC decides to revoke this license, we may be required to write-off its $68 million carrying value.

 

[Fitzie]

rocatman and nelson61, thanks for the information and link.

Reading the application was somewhat confusing, since if I read it correctly it requests permission for E* (or Dish) to transmit from "up to" 32 Nimiq 5 channels while noting it had a contract to use 16 channels. If DirecTv has the other 16 channels, maybe E* is envisioning a channel swap with DirecTv in some way? Insight or thoughts welcome.

Regards,
Fitzie

 

[HDRoberts]

Directv recently extended their lease for the other 16 transponder slots until Sept 2011. So it stays at 16 for now.

I hadn't heard that. What does DirecTV have on 1R they don't yet have on their main arc? I bet DirecTV is just extending the lease to keep those TPs out of Dish hands.

I wonder if they will have to move E6 to 148? I bet they would really like to move it to 61.5.

I'm betting it goes to 61.5. This year, E12 experienced even more power failures. There is the matter of the 4 transponders neither E3 nor E12 can provide. Getting the CONUS load off E12 also just might enable them to turn on TPs 17, 19, 21, and 23 (or at least a couple of them) in spot mode and continue the HD LiL expansion.

Who else is interested in using 148 anyway? DirecTV would probably like to see it kept out of Dish hands, but I don't see them sparing a satellite for it.

 

[rocatman]

I hadn't heard that. What does DirecTV have on 1R they don't yet have on their main arc? I bet DirecTV is just extending the lease to keep those TPs out of Dish hands.



I'm betting it goes to 61.5. This year, E12 experienced even more power failures. There is the matter of the 4 transponders neither E3 nor E12 can provide. Getting the CONUS load off E12 also just might enable them to turn on TPs 17, 19, 21, and 23 (or at least a couple of them) in spot mode and continue the HD LiL expansion.

Who else is interested in using 148 anyway? DirecTV would probably like to see it kept out of Dish hands, but I don't see them sparing a satellite for it.

Yes DirecTV extended their agreement until September 2011 but Dish may have filed the request for 32 TPs for use after that. I also agree that E-6 will go to 61.5 W. Hopefully the FCC will allow dish to hold the 148 W slot until another satellite is freed up perhaps E-7 when E-14 is launched. Launch is suppose to be either the end of this year or early next year but it is questionable if there is a launch vehicle with the weight capacity available.

 

[nelson61]

Nimiq 5 ILS Launch Page -Tracking Site

International Launch Services has activated the Nimiq 5 Launch page.


Nimiq 5 Mission Control

 

[jansan]

Thanks for the link nelson61.

 

[nelson61]

Nimiq 5 photo courtesy of Space Loral.

You can see the antennas folded along side the satellite body.

 

[--sexy-warlock--]

What does this mean for us?

 

[mike123abc]

What does this mean for us?

Well the main thing is that it frees up a Dish satellite to move to 61.5 to take over some work from the failing E3. With more capacity on 61.5, they should be able to handle some more HD.

 

[Derwin0]

What does this mean for us?

Spotbeams from 72, to allow for even more HD Locals.

 

[rocatman]

Spotbeams from 72, to allow for even more HD Locals.

The Nimiq 5 satellite does not have any spotbeam capability, it is a CONUS satellite only as is the satellite it will replace at 72.7 W, E-6.

 

[Derwin0]

The Nimiq 5 satellite does not have any spotbeam capability, it is a CONUS satellite only as is the satellite it will replace at 72.7 W, E-6.

A shame, I figured they might squeeze some on, like was done for Ceil 2.
Oh well.

 

[HDRoberts]

Well the main thing is that it frees up a Dish satellite to move to 61.5 to take over some work from the failing E3. With more capacity on 61.5, they should be able to handle some more HD.

Actually, E3 and E12 are both failing. E3 from age. E12 has started having power issues that prevent full use.

A shame, I figured they might squeeze some on, like was done for Ceil 2.
Oh well.

Quetzsat-1, going to 77W in 2011 should have many spotbeams. Echostar 15, headed to 61.5 in late 2010, should also have spotbeams.

However, that does not mean Nimiq-5 will mean nothing for LiL. E6 will be freed to go to 61.5, as mentioned above. By it taking over CONUS load from E12, there may be more power to turn on the current idle TP 17, 19, 21, and 23 spotbeams.

 

[digiblur]

Actually, E3 and E12 are both failing. E3 from age. E12 has started having power issues that prevent full use.

Dish never planned to fully utilize E12 anyways. They don't need to use any of the beams beyond the Mid US since Ciel-2 handles that area very well. The spotbeams on E12 were designed to be each fed by one uplink center. One some of the beams, dishes uses 1 uplink to feed 2 beams, which in turn they are not reusing the uplink frequencies efficiently so they have to turn off several transponders on each beam.

One thing that Dish will gain is going from QPSK 5/6 to 8PSK 2/3 on all 16 transponders. I'm hearing October for this. Instant 160 megabit gain on this satellite.