NSS-12, the 41st spacecraft in the global SES fleet, has entered commercial service at the orbital location of 57 degrees East.
The spacecraft was successfully launched onboard an Ariane 5 rocket on October 29, 2009. It replaces NSS-703 at a key orbital location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. All traffic on NSS-703 has been transferred to NSS-12.
Rob Bednarek, president and CEO of SES World Skies, said in a statement: “NSS-12 ensures seamless continuity for our valued customers at the important orbital position of 57 degrees East. The satellite provides significant incremental capacity to serve the fast growing South Asian and East African markets. As such, it is an integral part of our ambitious launch manifest aimed at increasing the in-orbit capacity of our 25 satellite strong SES World Skies fleet. And much like the recent ‘in-orbit’ acquisition of the Protostar-2 satellite, NSS-12 is a testimony to SES’ dedication to providing state-of-the-art satellite capacity to support our customers in growing their businesses.”
NSS-12 delivers DTH through four regional Ku-band spot beams over the Middle East, Europe, Central and Southern Asia and, for the first time, Eastern Africa. The satellite’s high-capacity, high-power C-band hemispheric beams – one covering Europe, Africa (including Mauritius) and the Middle East, and the other stretching across Asia to Australia – have been augmented by a C-band global beam spanning from the UK to the Far East.
The satellite reaches an estimated two-thirds of the world’s population. It features 40 C-band transponders and 48 Ku-band transponders with DTH power levels, as well as elaborate beam interconnectivity and C/Ku-band cross-strapping. The NSS-12 spacecraft was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications.
