BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan & LUXEMBOURG--()--SES S.A. (Paris:SESG)(LuxX:SESG) announces that the SES-4 satellite roared into space on board an ILS Proton Breeze M booster today at 1:36 am Baikonur time (20:36 CET and 14:36 EST on February 14th, 2012). After a 9-hour, 12-minute mission, the Breeze M upper stage of the Proton rocket successfully released the SES-4 satellite directly into geostationary transfer orbit.
SES-4 is a 20-kilowatt satellite manufactured on the flight-proven Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform with 52 C-band and 72 Ku-band transponders. It has C-band beams serving the eastern hemisphere of Europe and Africa, full coverage of the Americas, and a global beam to support mobile and maritime customers. Four high-power, regional Ku-band beams provide service to Europe, the Middle East, West Africa, as well as North and South America with extensive channel switching capability between C- and Ku-band transponders for enhanced connectivity.
SES-4 is the 50th satellite in the global SES fleet and also the largest, most powerful SES satellite to date. It will replace the NSS-7 satellite at 338 degrees East longitude and provide replacement as well as incremental capacity at this well established SES orbital slot over the Atlantic Ocean.
Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES, declared: “SES is delighted to see the 50th satellite in its fleet successfully launched after two unfortunate Proton-related launch delays. We thank the launch teams of Space Systems/Loral, ILS, Khrunichev and SES for their dedicated work. Their relentless efforts ensured ultimately a total success. After thorough in-orbit testing, SES and its customers can now look forward to SES-4 providing new, state-of-the-art satellite capacity across three continents.”
“With today’s successful launch of SES-4, we marked several more milestones with our longtime customer SES, including the 20th SES satellite launched on ILS Proton and the 50th satellite in the SES fleet. It is also our 70th ILS Proton launch since the first launch with SES’ ASTRA 1F satellite in 1996. It is an honor for ILS and Khrunichev to be entrusted with launching the powerful SES-4 satellite and all of the past and upcoming ILS Proton missions for SES,” said ILS President, Frank McKenna.
John Celli, President of Space Systems/Loral, stated: “I would like to congratulate SES, ILS and Khrunichev on this successful launch and to recognize the teams from all of our companies who have worked so hard to assure a perfect launch. Space Systems/Loral is very pleased to help support SES’ fleet expansion and its ability to provide communications services across the world.”
Note to Editors:
The next SES launch is scheduled for Q2, 2012, when an ILS Proton booster will orbit the SES-5 spacecraft, also manufactured by Space Systems/Loral, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
About SES
SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide.
SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the broadcasting industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements.
SES (Paris:SESG)(LuxX:SESG) holds participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico, as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks. Further information under: www.ses.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50168218&lang=en
