EchoStar XVI is an American geostationary communications satellite which is operated by EchoStar. It is positioned in geostationary orbit, and will be located at a longitude of 61.5° West, from where it is intended to provide direct broadcasting of high-definition television services to the United States for Dish Network.[1][2]
EchoStar XVI was built by Space Systems/Loral, and is based around the LS-1300 satellite bus. It is equipped with 32 J band (IEEE Ku band) transponders.[1] At launch it had a mass of 6,258 kilograms (13,797 lb). It has a design life of fifteen years.[2] It has a common configuration with EchoStar XI and EchoStar XV.
The launch of EchoStar XVI was conducted by International Launch Services, using a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M upper stage. The launch occurred on 20 November 2012, 18:31 UTC from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.[3][4]
The Creative Time was launched with EchoStar XVI into outer space an archival disc created by artist Trevor Paglen called The Last Pictures. Made of ultra-archival materials, the disc is expected to orbit the Earth for billions of years affixed to the exterior of the communications satellite. A silicon disc has one hundred photographs selected to represent modern human history.[5]
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets). |
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