Please make a donation to support Gunter's Space Page.
Thank you very much for visiting Gunter's Space Page. I hope that this site is useful and informative for you.
If you appreciate the information provided on this site, please consider supporting my work by making a simple and secure donation via PayPal. Please help to run the website and keep everything free of charge. Thank you very much.

SES 1, 2, 3

SES 1 [OSC]

SES 2 (with CHIRP experiment) [OSC]

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced in May 2007 that it has received an order from SES AMERICOM for as many as five new satellites over a multi-year period. Orbital stated that SES AMERICOM has placed a firm order for two new satellites, the first designated as AMC-5R and the second a ground spare that was launched to another orbital location as a replacement satellite.

Deliveries of the first two satellites are scheduled for mid- and late-2009, respectively. In addition to the two satellites that Orbital will immediately begin constructing, the contract gives SES AMERICOM the option to order up to three more identical satellites over the next few years.

The AMC-5R and the identical ground spare spacecraft will be hybrid satellites, each carrying 24 active C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders of 36 MHz capacity each. Some of the channels in each band will also be cross-strapped, enabling new service capability. Each spacecraft will generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power and will have two deployable reflectors.

SES AMERICOM announced in April 2008 the order of a third spacecraft under the multi-satellite contract both companies announced in May 2007. Under this contract, the earlier ordered ground spare will now become AMC-4R (originally designated AMC-1R), and a new ground spare will be produced for a future use.

Planned for launch in the second half of 2009 on a Zenit-3SLB, AMC-1R will have a permanent home in geosynchronous Earth orbit at 103 degrees West longitude.

AMERICOM Government Services (AGS) announced in June 2008 that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force to host an experimental sensor on board of AMC 5R (SES 2). The primary purpose of the CHIRP (Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload) experiment is to test a new type of infrared sensor from geo-synchronous altitude. The passive infrared sensor will be integrated onto the SES-2 satellite so that it can be launched into orbit and the data can then be transmitted to the ground for analysis.

In early 2010, the satellites were renamed from AMC 4R, AMC 5R and AMC ground spare to SES 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

SES 1 was configured for direct GEO insertion by the Proton-M Briz-M launch vehicle and therefore omitting the apogee engine and the oxidizer.

Nation: USA
Type / Application: Communication
Operator: SES Americom → SES World Skies
Contractors: Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC)
Equipment: 24 active C-band, 24 Ku-band and 2 Ka-band transponders; CHIRP (#2 only)
Configuration: Star-2.4 Bus
Propulsion: IHI BT-4 (#2, 3)
Power: 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries
Lifetime: 15 years (fueled for >16 years)
Mass: 2561 kg (#1); 3200 kg (#2); 3170 kg (#3)
Orbit: GEO
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
SES 1 (ex AMC 4R ex AMC 1R ex AMC 5RR) 2010-016A 24.04.2010 Ba LC-200/39 Proton-M Briz-M (Ph.2)
SES 2 (ex AMC 5R) 2011-049A 21.09.2011 Ko ELA-3 Ariane-5ECA with Arabsat 5C
SES 3 (ex AMC ground spare) 2011-035A 15.07.2011 Ba LC-200/39 Proton-M Briz-M (Ph.3) with KazSat 2
SES (ex AMC) - Option
SES (ex AMC) - Option

References:

Further GE / AMC / AAP missions:
Further SES missions:

Cite this page: